Letters Between Hans and Nora Heysen - Talking History Summer Series

This free public lecture was part of the History Trust of South Australia's Talking History series.

Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen are Australia’s most well-known father-daughter artistic duo. In this episode, Professor Speck explores the letters written to each other from the time Nora moved to London in 1934 until Hans Heysen died in 1968. During that time Nora Heysen won the Archibald Prize, was appointed an official war artist, fell in love with a married man, Robert Black, with whom she lived with and eventually married, relocated to Sydney, and travelled extensively to the Pacific. Hans Heysen was knighted, sat on the board of the National Art Gallery of South Australia and was connected to leading figures in the Australian art world. The letters take readers into these events, life at The Cedars, Sallie Heysen’s role there, and the art itself.

Music in this episode courtesy of:

Parting of the Ways - Part 2 by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4196-parting-of-the-ways---part-2

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

No. 9 Esther’s Waltz by Esther Abrahmi

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGJgzJS3Ws

Vision of Persistence by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4592-vision-of-persistence

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license