Australian serendipity I - A homestead goes museum
Imagine this scenario: you arrive jet lagged on the other side of the globe. Sleep seems to overwhelm you at odd hours of the day. You are battling it hard, trying to get used to a new rhythm, forcing your body to adjust to breakfast at night and going to sleep at a time when it is used to having lunch.
Passing the first few days down under can be difficult, so you plan little excursions in order to spend the day away from the beckoning bed.
Luckily I had understanding hosts and - knowing my love of art - they suggested that we go to "Heide". Heide? Yes, it is short for Heide Museum of Modern Art. It was just a 15 minute drive from where I was staying, more or less in the middle of residential suburbs, not really where you expect to find such a gem of a museum.
In its beginnings Heide was a mere homestead in rural Victoria, a typical weatherboard farmhouse, next to the small town of Heidelberg. Nowadays it forms part of the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen but still occupies extensive grounds that include a sprawling sculpture park reaching North to the banks of the Yarra river.
It was the brainchild of John and Sunday Reed, an art loving couple, who - in the 1930s - opened their house to the artists of the avant-garde scene, entertaining painters, writers and intellectuals. The Reeds took entertaining quite seriously; their afternoon teas were famous. Sunday was a fantastic cook and the produce came from their own kitchen garden which is still in existence and nowadays supplies the museum cafe.
This group of friends, the 'Heide Circle' as it came to be known, included amongst others famous Australian artists Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Arthur Boyd, Joy Hester, Danila Vassilieff and later on, Mirka Mora. They created, discussed and promoted modern art and literature, always supported by their hosts.
The museum's information panels mostly paint a picture of a happy artists' colony of avant garde creatives and their patrons and only occasionally hint at the sexual promiscuity that seemed to have prevailed in the Reed household. On further research it transpires that the Reeds invited their proteges not just for tea, but led a rather experimental and complicated life. Their first 'menage-a-trois' was with painter Sam Atyeo and on Atyeo's departure Sidney Nolan became the new favourite. He was only 20 years old and newly married when he was introduced to John Reed, who was a lawyer by profession, but came recommended to Nolan as a patron of avant garde art. John invited Nolan to dinner and thus started a ten year relationship that led to another 'menage' in the Reed household and, unsurprisingly, the break-up of Nolan's marriage.
By the 1950s, when Nolan moved to England and became renowned the world over, he had severed all contact with the Reeds. Later on in life he was reluctant to acknowledge the role that his 10-year-stay at Heide had played in establishing his career as a successful painter.
Nevertheless, it was Sunday Reed who had guided him to become a painter (rather than a writer) when he first joined the Circle. And later - in 1946- it was in the dining room of the Heide homestead that Nolan painted his acclaimed Ned Kelly series. Ned Kelly is a historic figure, a notorious bushranger and outlaw who met his end on the gallows. Nolan set his whimsical and simplified depictions of this bandit in steel armour against the background of naturalistic Australian landscapes. An avid admirer of the French painter Rousseau, Nolan captured the mood of the vast Australian landscapes with a naïve twist, applying bold brushstrokes in bright colours, letting the harsh Australian light shine through.
Nolan's colleagues in the Heide Circle were less light-hearted in the choice of their subjects. Albert Tucker, Arthur Boyd and John Perceval dealt with the more serious problems like war time corruption or the misery of the Aboriginals in their surrealist-influenced works. Their landscapes were ragged and menacing, pertaining in mood to social realism as well as expressionism.
The works of these and other Modernist Australian painters that were acquired by the Reeds for their collection, grace the walls of the original homestead building, now called Heide I. It has been beautifully restored and although it doubles as a gallery space it conveys the feeling of a home as soon as you enter. The kitchen still has the original handpainted tiles by Mary Perceval and the library is filled with a vast collection of books. Black and white photographs serve as reminders of the creative occupants of the past and tell stories of how crowded with artworks the house used to get in those days.
In fact, it was this lack of space that prompted the Reeds in 1964 to commission a new home for them and their art. Their brief was for a Modernist building - a "gallery to be lived in" - a home that could one day be transformed into a museum. They moved into what is now Heide II in 1967 and eventually, after years of negotiations, Heide was sold to the State Government of Victoria in 1980. In November of the following year their dream of Heide as a public museum became a reality as it opened its doors to the public. Having seen their dream fulfilled, John and Sunday Reed passed away within ten days of each other the following month.
Over the course of their lifetimes the Reeds built their collection, always buying works from contemporary artists. To this day the museum carries on this tradition, often also benefitting from donations of whole collections or single works of art. The sculpture park had its seeds in two outdoor works that the Reeds had installed on their fifteen acre property and today comprises 38 sculptures. Inspiration for the park was taken from international sculpture parks like the one at the Kröller Müller museum in the Netherlands.
A few more buildings have been added to the museum complex over the years, the most prominent is undoubtedly Heide III which was built to reflect the Modernist character of the museum. Its striking black titanium zinc facade is a wonderful contrast to the white limestone of the Heide II building.
During my visit in mid-March the big exhibition space in the main building was given over to a Mirka Mora retrospective. Mirka was a French born Australian artist whose artistic output was varied and wonderful, ranging from delicate, dreamlike drawings to three dimensional dolls, giving us a glimpse of her gentle soul. It was her husband, German born George Mora, a successful Australian entrepreneur, who was instrumental in helping John Reed establish Heide as the Museum of Modern Art that it is today.
By taking over the gallery from the Reeds, the State Government of Victoria gave the public access to a comprehensive collection of an entire country's artistic profile covering several movements up to the present day. It also made it possible to preserve this amazing parkland in what is now urban Melbourne. The museum and sculpture park are neighbours to typical Australian residential suburbs and even a big shopping centre right on its borders. The museum's presence there is serendipity at its best.
If you want to find out more about the museum and its collection click here
And as always do click on the photo gallery to see the image in full and read the captions
