From: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Daughter of renowned landscape painter Hans Heysen, Nora Heysen (1911-2003) established her own reputation as a distinguished portrait and still-life painter, becoming the first woman to win the Archibald Prize and to be appointed an Australian official war artist during the Second World War.
Born at Hahndorf, South Australia, the fourth child of Hans and Selma Heysen, Nora received her earliest art training from her father.
At fifteen she commenced studies at the School of Fine Arts, Adelaide, under F. Millward Grey, where she received a traditional academic training, learning to draw from plaster casts and live models.