Ivor Hele b. 1912 Edwardstown, Adelaide, SA

  • Artist (Painter) , (Draughtsman)
A leading figurative artist working in Adelaide in the mid 20th century. Hele served as a war artist in the Second World War and Korean War and won the Archibald Prize for portraiture on several occasions during the 1950s.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 2007
Name
Ivor Hele
Birth date
13 June 1912
Birth place
Edwardstown, Adelaide, SA
Death date
1 December 1993
Death place
Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA
Gender
Male
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Residence
  • 1937- 1993 Alinga, Adelaide, SA
Active Period
  • 1926- 1990
Languages
  • English
Training
  • 1927- 1928 with Marie Tuck, Adelaide, SA
Is Indigenous
No

painter and sketcher. Hele studied art at Adelaide’s Prince Alfred College, the South Australian School of Arts and in Europe. He first came to national attention with a number of prizewinning history paintings in the 1930s.

Appointed an official war artist during World War II and Korea, Hele’s work was widely distributed in exhibitions and books.

Hele was a prolific Archibald Prize winner during the 1950s (1951; 1953; 1954; 1955; 1957). “Once I start a portrait I like to go straight through until it’s finished. While I’m doing it I think it, dream it – I’m obsessed by that one thing… the human face and the human form are always the greatest things to me…” he explained in 1962.

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Writers:
Riddler, Eric
Date written:
2007
Last updated:
2011
associate of
Dora Cecil Chapman
1911
Artist, Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Jacqueline Hick
1919
Artist, Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Shirley Keene
1924
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Douglas Francis Maxted
1914
Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator)
associate of
Joshua Smith
1905
Artist
associate of
Ruth Tuck
1914
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Painter)
associate of
Marie Tuck
1866
Artist (Printmaker), Artist (Painter)
Portrait of Sir Robert Webster CMG CBE MC Hon.DSc, Deputy Chancellor 1960-1970, Chancellor 1970-1975
Date
1971
Collections
Recognitions
Archibald Prize
1957
Award
Archibald Prize
1955
Award
Archibald Prize
1954
Award
Archibald Prize
1953
Award
Archibald Prize
1951
Award
Citations:
  • Wilkins, Lola; Mattei, Tina, (1995), Ivor Hele : the heroic figure, (Place: Canberra, ACT)
  • Branson, V. M.; Ashton, Sir Will, (1966), The art of Ivor Hele, (Place: Adelaide, SA)
  • Fry, Gavin, (1984), Ivor Hele : the soldiers' artist, (Place: Canberra, ACT)
  • Hylton, Jane, (2002), Ivor Hele : the productive artist, (Place: Adelaide, SA)
  • Hetherington, John, (1963), Australian painters : forty profiles, (Place: Melbourne, Vic)