Biographical notes:
Sir Hans Heysen O.B.E. migrated from GER to AUS in 1884, arriving on 10 July. The family settled first at Port Adelaide & later moved to the Adelaide suburbs. He attended vatious schools including 3 years at the East Adelaide Model School. After leaving school at age 14, he earnt enough money working in a hardware store to buy his first set of paints. In the following year he joined James Ashton's watercolour painting class at the Norwood Art School where he quickly developed his skill. Heysen's first sale of a painting was to Ashton himself who was so impressed with his work that he purchased "The Wet Road" for 10 shillings. He continued with further painting study & sketching in the Adelaide Hills & was soon holding successful exhibitions of his work.
His talent as an artist was quickly recognised by a group of Adelaide business men who financed his studies in Paris in 1899-1903. The paintings he sent back made a small profit for the sponsors. During this time, he was able to visit galeries, not only in Paris, but also in Holland, Britain, Germany & Italy.
After some initial disappointments, he held successful exhibitions commencing 1908. Heysen went on to win the Wynne Prize for landscape painting 9 times between 1904 and 1932. He is especially noted for oil paintings of rural landscapes in the Flinders Ranges and around Hahndorf. Several major works are displayed in the Art Gallery of SA including "Red Gold". However his personal favourite medium was sketching in charcoal and he produced more water colours than oil paintings. After a successful exhibition in Melbourne in 1912, he was able to purchase "The Cedars" at Hahndorf, SA where he lived until his death in 1968.
Reference documents:
1904 marriage registration index record.
1968 death registration index record.
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Biography (SA History)
Biography (Wikipedia)