ART SENSATION

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 24, 29 January 1935, Page 7

ART SENSATION

ADVERSITY CONQUERED

UNKNOWN MAN WINS RICH

PRIZE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ' SYDNE^, January 24. The greatest art sensation in Australia for many years was the announcement that the Archibald prize, worth "about £390 and the richest art reward, in the Commonwealth, had been awarded this year to au unknown painter, Mr. Henry A. I-lanke, who has for months been doing Government relief work to provide a few shillings weekly for the sustenance of his wife, child, and himself.' Hanke's winning entry was a selfportrait, showing himself dressed in a working man's clothes. Hitherto, he has been seen almost entirely at tho annual exhibition of the ftoyal Art Society. The year before last, his "Landing of Captain Cook" attraetod attention with its Brangwyuesque qualities; and in 1934 he showed an interesting market scene. Theae were tho highlights. His other work, and especially his portraits, showed that he had still a good deal to learn. But iv the winning portrait there is "no trace of immaturity. The colour is reserved, yet all traces of muddiness and overworking—two earlier faults of Mr. Hanke's—have vanished. 'the pose is easy, though striking; the character emerges clearly; the design is good; and the textures of the background and of his brown coat are admirably conveyed. It i 3 a strong and highly individual piece of painting. BITTER ROAD TO SUCCESS. Behind Hanke's struggle to achieve fame is a story of courage in adversity and a bitter road to success. Ho was birti 34 years, ago. 'M'rc.bcen a messenger^ a fitter and ■ tnrner, a pastrycook, and a relief worker," said Mr. Hanke. "And I'vo ' r-een told more times, than I care to teuiuiiiber that I would mako an infiuiltiy better messenger, fitter and tusuei, or pastrycook, than I would au artist. 1 used to hurriedly' wash the Crease and oil from the litter's shop ■ off my hands and rush away to attend classes at the technical school. I. did not make much progress, and was continuously advised to try my hand at something to which I might be better fitted. • Then I joined Mr. J. S. Wat-j ' kins's classes. It was quite a struggle j at time's to find tho fees, and I will always remember with the deepest gratitude his assistance to me. When I could not find tho funds ho-assisted me for nothing—in return for the little tuition I could then give to other pupils. I put my little all into a motor-car venture and lost everything. I never had milch of a head for money. "In between times I continued ' painting, but it is hard to find the money for oils and canvases when one .is working but three and a half days each fortnight and has a wife and family to support. So I.ground my own paints and preparod my own canvases from, ordinary canvas. Incidentally that has been a great help, for I know my own canvas better than tho bought type. I either made my own frames ■ or painted my pictures to fit the frames I had. Once 1 sold two portraits. They realised £12 12s each. That was a great daj. They arc- the only two 1 have sold, unless you can term a portrait I painted to meet a pressing bill as a frale. • "Belief work cannot be said to improve a man's hands for fine .work, I'ingors become, stiffened and,., jvrjst muscles hardened", and it takes time'to make- them flexible again. I want to .forgetguttcrs and footpaths and drains. Most of all I want to forget concrete, tho feel of concrete, and the smellof concrete, the monotony of shovelling concrete, and' tho clatter and claag of concrete-mixing machines. I want a holiday far away from tho environment of relief works, where I can paint iree from the soul-searing cares that poverty breeds. WIFE NEVER LOST FAITH. • "My wife never lost faith in me, despite our mauy. vicissitudes. I have never been able to afford a model, and had to be my own.' So I posed for myself with tho aid of mirrors. That almost turned me into an ambidextor and ,a ju-jitsu expert. See that picture there' —pointing to a largo canvas depicting the Crucifixion—" I was the model for all tho figures on those crosses. • I rigged up a cross, in. the studio. and my wife lashed me up by the left hand. I arranged two mirrors, so that I could paint the right side, and ' afterwards - painted the left. It was hard work, hanging thcro by one hand and painting with the other, but the joy of achievement was well worth it. "''lt has been a desperate strngglo at times to gain any sort of recognition. It has meant living literally from hand to mouth with faith in oneself as' the sole bulwark; days of despair, •promises of commissions that never eventuated, poverty, and disillusion, yet dogged persistence withal. Now that I have won some measure of sue-, cess, I wonder what the future will hold for me. But I want to .forget concrete." Mr. Hanke gave the interview in the drab bootmaker's shop in Hunter's Hill that serves him as a, studio. A thin wiry man with a shock of unruly black hair and flashing brown eyes and a determined chin, his hands hardened by manual labour, he appeared more a modest and unassuming tyro than an artist to whom fame had come overnight.