Hans Heysen

(1877-1968)

The Farmyard, Frosty Morning, 1926

Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Society of Artists, Sydney
Sir James Fairfax, Sydney
Collection of the late Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax, Sydney

EXHIBITED
Society of Artists' Annual Exhibition, Education Department Art Gallery, Sydney, 10 September - 2 October 1926
Wynne Art Prize (WINNER), National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1926
Loan exhibition of the works of Hans Heysen, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 28 March – 26 May 1935, cat. 60, as lent by Lady Fairfax
150 years of Australian Art, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 January - 25 April 1938, cat. 111, as lent by Lady Fairfax (illus.)

LITERATURE
'At The Exhibition of the Society of Artists', The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 9 September 1926, p. 12 (illus.)
'Artists, Annual Exhibition, An Admirable Standard', The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 9 September 1926, p. 12
'Wynne Art Prize, Awarded to Mr Hans Heysen', The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 22 December 1926, p. 15
'Wynne Art Prize, Awarded to Hans Heysen', The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 22 December 1926, p. 7
'Wynne Art Prize, Awarded to Hans Heysen', The Argus, Melbourne, 22 December 1926, p. 22
'Wynne Art Prize, Hans Heysen Again the Winner', The Register, Adelaide, 22 December 1926, p. 9
'Wynne Art Prize, Awarded to Hans Heysen', The West Australian, Perth, 22 December 1926, p. 10
'The Wynne Art Prize, Won by Mr Hans Heysen', The Advertiser, Adelaide, 22 December 1926, p. 14
'Notes Of The Day, Wynne Art Prize', The Mercury, Hobart, 22 December 1926, p. 8, as 'The Farmyard on a Frosty Morning'
'Picture Which Gained the Wynne Art Prize', The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 23 December 1926, p. 12 (illus.)
'Personal', Barrier Miner, Broken Hill, 23 December 1926, p. 2
'Australasian', Western Mail, Perth, 23 December 1926, p. 25
'Art Notes', The Australasian, Melbourne, 25 December 1926, p. 43
'Wynne Art Prize, Hans Heysen Again the Winner', Observer, Adelaide, 25 December 1926, p. 41
'News In Brief', The Chronicle, Adelaide, 25 December 1926, p. 41
'Art Note', The Australasian, Melbourne, 3 September 1927, p. 51
'News and Novelties', The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 5 April 1935, p. 15 (illus.)
Colin Thiele, Heysen of Hahndorf, Rigby Limited, Adelaide, 2000, p. 196
Julie Robinson, Hans Heysen: The Creative Journey, Art Gallery Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1992, p. 24
Catherine Speck, Heysen to Heysen: Selected Letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2011, p. 39
Lou Klepac, Hans Heysen, Beagle Press, Sydney, 2016, p. 208


The 1920s were the golden years for Hans Heysen. He had found unprecedented fame and popularity through sell-out exhibitions, glowing reviews and frequent articles in publications such as Art and Australia, all of which contributed to Heysen becoming a household name. Heysen was also the winning recipient of the Wynne Prize an astonishing nine times, of which four came during the 1920s. The Toilers in 1920 (in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide); The Quarry in 1922 (in the collection of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney); Afternoon in Autumn in 1924 (in the collection of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney); and the present work, The Farmyard, Frosty Morning in 1926, which by this time was his seventh winning entry.

As reviewed in The Argus in 1926, 'The Wynne Art Prize for this year has been awarded by the trustees of the National Gallery of New South Wales to Mr Hans Heysen for his oil painting "The Farmyard Frosty Morning".

The Picture was shown at the exhibition of the Society of Artists in September, and was purchased by Sir James Fairfax. It attracted attention as one of the features of this exhibition because of the artist's masterly treatment of strong, clear, early sunshine and sharply contrasting shadows over a sloping foreground, where cattle are reposing almost beneath two trees to the left of the scene. The trees, cattle, and the farm buildings to the right are admirably balanced against the gently rising background, with its straggling bush and wisps of morning mist.'1

It is hard to fault the judges. The Farmyard, Frosty Morning is an outstanding portrayal from an artist at the peak of his powers, Heysen himself declaring it his 'best picture to date'2. Painted at Edwards Farm, an early settler's property just outside Hahndorf, Heysen uses sharp contrasting yet restrained tones to capture the early morning chill.

In 1935, The Art Gallery of New South Wales staged a major loan exhibition allowing Heysen to reacquaint himself with numerous artworks including the present painting, a somewhat surprised Heysen noted in a letter to his daughter, Norah on the 13th June 1935, 'I promised to tell you more of my show in Sydney... Several pictures came as a pleasant surprise. The Farmyard, Frosty Morning looked crisp and cold and convincing. It's somewhat stiff forms suited the time of day and the cold air'3.

By this time, Heysen had shaped an image of the Australian landscape like none before him. His images of rural farmyards and gum trees had come to occupy a permanent place in the nation's imagination.

1.'Wynne Art Prize', The Argus, Melbourne, 22 December 1926, p. 22
2. Letter: Hans Heysen to National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 9 January 1927
3. Catherine Speck, Heysen to Heysen, Selected letters of Hans Heysen and Norah Heysen, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2012, p. 39

Alex Clark