Heide Circle
Encyclopedia
The Heide Circle was a loose grouping of Australia
n artists who lived and worked at "Heide", a former dairy farm on the Yarra River
floodplain at Bulleen
, a suburb of Melbourne
, counting amongst their number many of Australia's best-known modernist
painters.
Heide was purchased in 1934 by John
and Sunday Reed
, passionate supporters and collectors of Australian art and culture. Amongst other activities, John Reed published the modernist literary magazine Angry Penguins
, which earned its place in Australia's cultural history with the notorious Ern Malley
hoax.
A number of modernist artists came to live and work at various times through the 1930s, 40s and 50s at Heide, and as such it became the place where many of the most famous works of the period were painted. Albert Tucker
, Sidney Nolan
, and Joy Hester
, amongst others, all worked at Heide, Nolan painting his famous series of Ned Kelly
works in the living room there.
The Heide Circle is well known for the intertwined personal and professional lives of the people involved. Sunday Reed conducted affairs with a number of them, with the knowledge of her husband.
The Heide Circle continued in their commitment to Figurative Modernism through the 1950s and 60s, with several of the artists forming the Antipodeans Group
and taking a stand against the new abstract art.
Heide is located very close to Heidelberg
, the area associated with a famous earlier Melbourne art movement, the Heidelberg School
. The north-eastern fringes of Melbourne, particularly further out at Eltham
, retain a close association with the visual arts.
The Heide Museum of Modern Art
is now an art museum featuring most of the artists of the period, and actively supporting the development and promotion of contemporary art in Australia.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n artists who lived and worked at "Heide", a former dairy farm on the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
floodplain at Bulleen
Bulleen, Victoria
Bulleen is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Manningham. At the 2006 Census, Bulleen had a population of 10,528.-Etymology:...
, a suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, counting amongst their number many of Australia's best-known modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
painters.
Heide was purchased in 1934 by John
John Reed (art patron)
John Reed was an Australian art editor and patron, notable for supporting and collecting of Australian art and culture with his wife Sunday Reed....
and Sunday Reed
Sunday Reed
Sunday Reed was notable for supporting and collecting Australian art with her husband John Reed.-Personal history:...
, passionate supporters and collectors of Australian art and culture. Amongst other activities, John Reed published the modernist literary magazine Angry Penguins
Angry Penguins
Angry Penguins was an Australian literary and artistic avant-garde movement of the 1940s. The movement was stimulated by a modernist magazine of the same name published by the surrealist poet Max Harris, who founded the magazine in 1940, at the age of 18....
, which earned its place in Australia's cultural history with the notorious Ern Malley
Ern Malley
Ernest Lalor "Ern" Malley was a fictitious poet and the central figure in Australia's most celebrated literary hoax. The poet, and his entire body of work, were created in one day in 1944 by writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart as a hoax on Max Harris, Angry Penguins, the modernist magazine he...
hoax.
A number of modernist artists came to live and work at various times through the 1930s, 40s and 50s at Heide, and as such it became the place where many of the most famous works of the period were painted. Albert Tucker
Albert Tucker (artist)
Albert Lee Tucker , a pivotal Australian artist, was a member of the Heide Circle, a group of leading modernist artists and writers that centred on the art patrons John and Sunday Reed, whose home, "Heide", located in Bulleen, near Heidelberg , was a haven for the group...
, Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, and Joy Hester
Joy Hester
Joy St Clair Hester was an Australian artist who played an important, though sometimes underrated, role in the development of Australian modernism, though her works could also be considered Abstract Expressionism....
, amongst others, all worked at Heide, Nolan painting his famous series of Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
works in the living room there.
The Heide Circle is well known for the intertwined personal and professional lives of the people involved. Sunday Reed conducted affairs with a number of them, with the knowledge of her husband.
The Heide Circle continued in their commitment to Figurative Modernism through the 1950s and 60s, with several of the artists forming the Antipodeans Group
Antipodeans Group
-History:The Antipodeans group consisted of seven modern painters and the art historian Bernard Smith, who compiled The Antipodean Manifesto, a declaration fashioned from the artists' comments as a catalogue essay to accompany their exhibit....
and taking a stand against the new abstract art.
Heide is located very close to Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Victoria
Heidelberg is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Banyule....
, the area associated with a famous earlier Melbourne art movement, the Heidelberg School
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
. The north-eastern fringes of Melbourne, particularly further out at Eltham
Eltham, Victoria
Eltham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Nillumbik. At the 2006 Census, Eltham had a population of 17,581....
, retain a close association with the visual arts.
The Heide Museum of Modern Art
Heide Museum of Modern Art
Heide Museum of Modern Art, more commonly just Heide, is a contemporary art museum located in Bulleen, east of Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum comprises several detached buildings and surrounding gardens & parklands of historical importance that are used as gallery spaces to...
is now an art museum featuring most of the artists of the period, and actively supporting the development and promotion of contemporary art in Australia.