Deutscher and Hackett

Most likely completed in the October of 1937 whilst at the Heysen family home The Cedars at Hahndorf, the picture on offer represents an important transitional work by the artist. With its light high key palette and enlivened surface, Still Life shows the considerable influence of Lucien Pissarro to whom Heysen had been introduced the preceding year in London. Startled by the post-impressionist's observation that her work was out of step with the current mode, Pissarro's mentorship was to result in Heysen creating works such as the above which displayed a new and international vitality. The following year, in 1938 Nora Heysen became the first woman to be awarded the Archibald Prize.