Hans HEYSEN
Germany 1877 – Australia 1968
Australia from 1884; Europe, England 1899-1903

Hauling timber 1911
oil on canvas
Frame 132.5 (h) x 166.1 (w) x 9.1 (d) cm
Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales - Purchased 1911

In Hauling timber 1908–11, which was awarded the Wynne Prize, Heysen depicted felled eucalypts, converted to huge logs being carted away. It was based on Heysen’s experiences at Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills, where he stayed for some weeks at the end of 1907. He visited the timber cutters’ camp and saw a team of bullocks hauling timber among the giant red gums in the full light and sharp shadows of summer. While there he made many sketches of the bullocks and of the surrounding area.[1] This work is an adaptation of an earlier work Timber hauling which he had painted 1908; here, he simplified the composition, and in particular removed a large tree in the left foreground.[2]

[1] Colin Thiele, Heysen of Hahndorf, Adelaide: Rigby, 1968, p 107

[2] Ian North, Hans Heysen Centenary retrospective, 1877-1977, Adelaide: Art Gallery Board of South Australia, 1977, p 36