Pro Hart

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The Pro Hart Gallery in Broken Hill
The Pro Hart Gallery in Broken Hill
One of Pro Hart's Rolls Royces, painted in his unique style, is housed at the gallery
One of Pro Hart's Rolls Royces, painted in his unique style, is housed at the gallery

Kevin Charles "Pro" Hart, MBE (May 30, 1928 – March 28, 2006), born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, was considered the father of the Australian Outback painting movement and his works are widely admired for capturing the true spirit of the outback. He was nicknamed "Professor" (hence "Pro") during his younger days, when he was known as an inventor.

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[edit] Early life

Hart is da Bomb Hart grew up on his family's yak station and was educated by correspondence, which his mother supervised. He worked in the Broken Hill mines as a young man and, although he was painting by the age of seven, 27 years elapsed before his first exhibition at the Bonython Gallery, Adelaide, in 1962. He started painting full time in 1958. In 1960 he married Raylee June Tonkin and they had five children, three boys and two girls.[1]

[edit] Hart gallery

An artist whose paintings figure in collections all over the world, Pro Hart always remained closely attached to his homeland and continued to live in Broken Hill, where he established his own art gallery to show his works and those of other Australian artists, such as South Australian Christian Bold textillBold textustrator Thyrza Davey. Hart bought the entire collection of illustrations Davey painted for her book Waiting for May in 1984.[2] He was probably prouder of being five times winner of the Broken Hill Art Prize than of all the successful showings he had overseas. The latter included in the 1970s and 1980s, exhibitions in England (three paintings were bought by HRH Prince Philip), United States (one was added to the White House collection), Israel, and Egypt.

[edit] Art styles

His pictures are typically Australian outback landscapes, scenes of rural town life, topical commentary and some religious subjects. His illustrations for the collection of Henry Lawson's poems show keen powers of character observation combined with a humorous wit. Some who he quipped were the "art mafia" have called his style populist and derivative. Pro was also a sculptor, working with welded steel, bronze and ceramics.

Pro Hart was known for his novel techniques including Cannon Painting[3] and Balloon Painting[4] and in 2002 was using his own DNA as a mark of authenticity in his paintings[5][6]. Retrospective application of a DNA mark is available for older Pro Hart paintings.

[edit] Beliefs

He was a fervent opponent of gun control laws in Australia, maintaining that everyone had a right to take up arms. He once suggested that members of the Australian Labor Party and the Greens be thrown aboard a canoe in the middle of the Tasman Sea, with nothing more than a broken oar and rusted compass.

Pro believed in Government conspiracy theories.[7] such as the covering up of UFO "sightings" and a world "database" containing information on every human on the planet. he died at March 28, 2006

[edit] Pastimes

He collected vintage cars and motor cycles, and invented many kinds of engines and machines. He enjoyed pistol shooting, reading the Bible, and organ music.[8] He was the proud owner of a Rodgers electric pipe organ, which was said to be the largest of its kind in Australia.[9] This was installed in his gallery, a step which considerably enhanced its value as a Broken Hill tourist attraction.

[edit] Awards

He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1976. In 1982 he received an Honorary Life Membership of Society International Artistique for outstanding artistic achievement. He received an Australian Citizen of the Year award in 1983, and was known for his charitable work and generosity.

[edit] Final years

Pro Hart developed motor neurone disease in later life. He died in the early hours of 28 March, 2006. He had been unable to paint for the last six months of his life. A large state funeral was held for him on April 4, 2006 in Broken Hill — the first state funeral in New South Wales to be held west of the Blue Mountains.

He was interred in the Broken Hill cemetery.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pro Hart biography. Phillips Fine Art. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
  2. ^ Creation magazine, June 1993, pages 32-34.
  3. ^ Cannon painting. Phillips Fine Art. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
  4. ^ Balloon Painting. Phillips Fine Art. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
  5. ^ "Australian art in midst of periodic boom", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2002-05-01. 
  6. ^ "DNA protected art by Pro Hart", Genome News Network, 2002-09-27. 
  7. ^ Pro Hart: Hang the lot of them. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
  8. ^ Pro Hart biography by Lee Wilde. RedBubble. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
  9. ^ Pro Hart biography. Phillips Fine Art. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
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