Droving Into the Light

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Infobox artwork

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file=Heysen Droving.jpg

| image_file = Heysen Droving.jpg

| backcolor=#FBF5DF

| backcolor = #FBF5DF

| title = Droving into the light

| image_size=300px

| artist = [[Hans Heysen]]

| title=Droving into the light

| artist=[[Hans Heysen]]

| year = [[1921 in art|1921]]

| medium = oil on canvas

| year=[[1921 in art|1921]]

| height_metric = 121.9

| medium=oil on canvas

| width_metric = 152.4

| height_metric=121.9

| metric_unit = cm

| width_metric=152.4

| imperial_unit = in

| height_imperial=

| city = [[Perth]]

| width_imperial=

| museum = [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]]

| metric_unit=cm

| url = https://collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/objects/616/droving-into-the-light

| imperial_unit=in

| city=[[Perth]]

| museum=[[Art Gallery of Western Australia]]

| url=https://collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/objects/616/droving-into-the-light

}}

}}

'''''Droving Into the Light''''', originally titled '''''Into the Light''''', is a [[1921 in art|1921 painting]] by renowned Australian artist [[Hans Heysen]]. The painting was composed over a period of seven years from 1914 to 1921.{{Cite web|last=Lock-Weir|first=Tracey|date=2008|title=Droving into the Light Hans Heysen|url=https://nga.gov.au/exhibition/heysen/default.cfm?IRN=196937&BioArtistIRN=16602&MnuID=3&GalID=4&ViewID=2|url-status=live|website=National Gallery of Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319001011/http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/HEYSEN/Default.cfm?IRN=196937&BioArtistIRN=16602&MnuID=3&GalID=4&ViewID=2 |archive-date=19 March 2011 }} It is part of the collection of the [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]] in [[Perth]].

'''''Droving Into the Light''''', originally titled '''''Into the Light''''', is a [[1921 in art|1921 painting]] by Australian artist [[Hans Heysen]]. The painting was composed over a period of seven years from 1914 to 1921.{{Cite web|last=Lock-Weir|first=Tracey|date=2008|title=Droving into the Light Hans Heysen|url=https://nga.gov.au/exhibition/heysen/default.cfm?IRN=196937&BioArtistIRN=16602&MnuID=3&GalID=4&ViewID=2|url-status=live|website=National Gallery of Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319001011/http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/HEYSEN/Default.cfm?IRN=196937&BioArtistIRN=16602&MnuID=3&GalID=4&ViewID=2 |archive-date=19 March 2011 }} It is part of the collection of the [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]] in [[Perth]].

== Description ==

== Description ==

The painting notably deviates from Heysen's well known use of water colour as an [[oil painting]] on canvas.{{Cite book|last=Hylton, Neylon|first=Jane, John|title=Hans Heysen: Into the Light|publisher=Wakefield Press|year=2004|isbn=9781862546578}} It depicts a drover, an Australian term for a person who moves livestock over long distances, transporting sheep along a road which appears to lead down a gradual incline. The vast, sunbathed landscape presented in the background of the artwork is likely inspired by the nature of the countryside of the [[Adelaide Hills]], an area {{convert|28|km|mi}} south east of [[South Australia|South Australia's]] capital city [[Adelaide]]. Heysen resided for the majority of his life in this area in the small town of [[Hahndorf, South Australia|Hahndorf]], thus receiving the inspiration for Droving Into the Light and his other works, most of which depict this natural landscape in some way.{{Cite book|last=Thiele|first=Colin|title=Heysen's of Hahndorf|publisher=Rigby|year=2001|isbn=0957926804|location=Adelaide}}

The painting deviates from Heysen's well known use of water colour as an [[oil painting]] on canvas.{{Cite book|last=Hylton, Neylon|first=Jane, John|title=Hans Heysen: Into the Light|publisher=Wakefield Press|year=2004|isbn=9781862546578}} It depicts a drover, an Australian term for a person who moves livestock over long distances, transporting sheep along a road which appears to lead down a gradual incline. The vast, sunbathed landscape presented in the background of the artwork is likely inspired by the nature of the countryside of the [[Adelaide Hills]], an area {{convert|28|km|mi}} south east of [[South Australia|South Australia's]] capital city [[Adelaide]]. Heysen resided for the majority of his life in this area in the small town of [[Hahndorf, South Australia|Hahndorf]], thus receiving the inspiration for Droving Into the Light and his other works, most of which depict this natural landscape in some way.{{Cite book|last=Thiele|first=Colin|title=Heysen's of Hahndorf|publisher=Rigby|year=2001|isbn=0957926804|location=Adelaide}}

Essential to the composition of the artwork are the salient [[Eucalyptus|eucalyptus trees]], which became a prominent symbol of Heysen's oeuvre throughout the course of his career.{{Cite book|last=Andrews|first=Rebecca|title=Hans Heysen|publisher=Art Gallery of South Australia|year=2008|isbn=9780730830238|location=Adelaide}} Of note in Droving Into the Light specifically is the large [[Eucalyptus camaldulensis|river red gum]] (''Eucalyptus camaldulensis''), which was an afterthought of Heysen's that intended to bring the fine elements of the work together in the later period of its composition:

Essential to the composition of the artwork are the salient [[Eucalyptus|eucalyptus trees]], which became a prominent symbol of Heysen's oeuvre throughout the course of his career.{{Cite book|last=Andrews|first=Rebecca|title=Hans Heysen|publisher=Art Gallery of South Australia|year=2008|isbn=9780730830238|location=Adelaide}} Of note in Droving Into the Light specifically is the large [[Eucalyptus camaldulensis|river red gum]] (''Eucalyptus camaldulensis''), which was an afterthought of Heysen's that intended to bring the fine elements of the work together in the later period of its composition:

{{Blockquote|Hans Heysen’s landscapes were ground breaking in their time and helped the way we view the Australian landscape. Heysen made the monumental gum tree a hero of his nationalistic Federation-period pieces|Ron Radford, Director of the National Gallery of Australia|}}

{{Blockquote|Hans Heysen’s landscapes were ground breaking in their time and helped the way we view the Australian landscape. Heysen made the monumental gum tree a hero of his nationalistic Federation-period pieces|Ron Radford, Director of the National Gallery of Australia|}}

Droving Into the Light has influenced the works of other Australian artists and writers, including [[Kim Scott]] and his [[ekphrasis]] of the painting in his short story ''Into the Light''.{{Cite book|last=Pree|first=Nathanael|title=Spatial Poetics and the Use of Ekphrasis in Kim Scott's' Into the Light' and Other Stories. A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott|year=2016|pages=101–113}} The symbolic use of light within the painting serves as the inspiration for Scott's story, also set in a grand Australian landscape. [[Nathanael Pree|Nathanael Pree's]] analysis of the painting's details for the purpose of studying Scott's ekphrasis further expose the meaningful contrasts within Droving Into the Light that represent the condition of life in young federation Australia; the faceless man hunched over the horse, the black dog that follows, elements which "inform the work as much as the promised light ahead."

Droving Into the Light has influenced the works of other Australian artists and writers, including [[Kim Scott]] and his [[ekphrasis]] of the painting in his short story ''Into the Light''.{{Cite book|last=Pree|first=Nathanael|title=Spatial Poetics and the Use of Ekphrasis in Kim Scott's' Into the Light' and Other Stories. A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott|year=2016|pages=101–113}} The symbolic use of light within the painting serves as the inspiration for Scott's story, also set in a grand Australian landscape. [[Nathanael Pree]]'s analysis of the painting's details for the purpose of studying Scott's ekphrasis further expose the meaningful contrasts within Droving Into the Light that represent the condition of life in young federation Australia; the faceless man hunched over the horse, the black dog that follows, elements which "inform the work as much as the promised light ahead."

Thus, the painting can be considered symbolic of a journey, the journey on which Australians found themselves on in discovering their national identity, and one which inspired such works as that of Kim Scott, proving its significance to Australian history.

Thus, the painting can be considered symbolic of a journey, the journey on which Australians found themselves on in discovering their national identity, and one which inspired such works as that of Kim Scott, proving its significance to Australian history.