Iruni Kalupahana Jadetimes Staff
I. Kalupahana is a Jadetimes news reporter covering Australia
The Heide Museum of Modern Art, or simply Heide, is a museum of modern and contemporary art based in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum features modern and contemporary art within three buildings and occupies sixteen acres of heritage listed gardens and a sculpture park. The museum occupies the site of an earlier dairy farm, which was purchased by arts supporters John and Sunday Reed in 1934. It was called Heide in commemoration of the Heidelberg School, an impressionist movement which began in neighboring Heidelberg in the 1880s. Heide was home to a band of young modernist artists who made up the Heide Circle, such as Sidney Nolan, John Perceval, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester, who often inhabited the Reeds' 19th century farm house, which is now Heide I. They are today some of Australia's best known artists and also considered the instigators of the Angry Penguins, a school of modernist painting named after a magazine co edited by the Reeds and poet Max Harris. His identification with this movement can be found in much of its art collection.
Modernist Architecture and Expansion
From 1964 to 1967, the Reeds built a new residence, Heide II, which is now considered to be one of the finest examples of modernist architecture in Victoria. In 1980, after several years of negotiations, the Reeds sold their majority stake in Heide and significant works from their art collection to the Victorian Government for incorporation into the creation of a public art museum and park. In 1993, Heide III, a purpose built gallery building, by Andrew Andersons, was added to the Heide complex. This building was expanded when Heide was redevelopment majorly in 2005–06. At this same time, the Sidney Myer Education Centre was built, Heide II and gardens were restored, and new buildings were constructed. Through many single bequests over its lifetime since its inception, Heide's collection has developed to become a part of the museum. Following the Reeds' initial intent, it is still here to help young and emerging artists.
Historical Significance of the Land
The museum sits on land once occupied by indigenous people, and its history can be seen in a prominent scarred tree near the highest point of the land, Yingabeal. In the late colonial period through the early twentieth century the site had been a dairy farm and grazing property with Yarra River frontage. In the 1870s, the first farmhouse was built. Since the nineteenth century, painters and writers came to visit who were attracted by the area finding the hills east of Melbourne and the Yarra River ideal to work in, the Heidelberg School of Heidelberg, the artists' settlement Montsalvat in Eltham, and moreover, some artists' camps in suburbs such as Box Hill and Warrandyte. In 1934, Sunday and John Reed, enthusiastic collectors and supporters of modern Australian art, purchased the farm and called it Heide, after the local town of Heidelberg. They occupied the farmhouse in 1935 and established a unique private library, covering modernist literature, books on world art, magazines and journals. Heide became a hub for progressive art and culture as the Reeds invited like minded individuals such as artists Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John Perceval and Danila Vassilieff into their home. Nolan, who intermittently resided at Heide for almost ten years, created his famous Ned Kelly series in the dining room of the farmhouse in 1946–47.
A Living Art Gallery
In 1963, the Reeds commissioned Melbourne architect David McGlashan to build a new house on the property, something mysterious and romantic, and "a gallery to be lived in". Fusing local and overseas design ideas, the sun lit house which they called Heide II was constructed of Mount Gambier limestone with a secondary palette of spare materials and earthy tones. The Reeds moved into Heide II in 1967 and Sunday Reed established the second kitchen garden near the new house. The Reeds returned to live in Heide I, the original homestead, after the sale of Heide II, much of the property surrounding it and a significant portion of their art collection (113 works) to the Victorian State Government in August 1980. The purchase was negotiated and settled by then Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Norman Lacy, who still provided the Government's continuing support for the creation of a public art gallery on the site to be named 'Heide Park and Art Gallery'. The interior of Heide II was modified in anticipation of it being opened as a public art gallery in November 1981. Heide Museum of Modern Art is currently a non profit company limited by guarantee, and on behalf of the Victorian Government, a Board of Directors is appointed as a Committee of Management.
Major Redevelopments and Site Features
The museum also underwent a major redevelopment in 2005–06 that included the installation of many sculptural and installation artworks, replanning and landscaping of the gardens, addition of a new education centre and gallery space, expansion of the Heide III building to accommodate works from the Barbara Tucker Gift and other various works. The museum re opened on 13 July 2006 after its $3 million extension and renovation. The new buildings were architecturally planned by O'Connor + Houle Architecture. Heide sits on a former Yarra River floodplain at Bulleen. To the north east and the east is the Yarra Valley Country Club, to the west and the south the Banksia Park, and to the south east Templestowe Road. The land borders the Yarra River, at Fannings Bend, on its north west corner. The museum itself is comprised of a series of individual buildings and the gardens and parklands surrounding the site, all utilized in some capacity as exhibition space.
The Landscape and Sculpture Park
Heide's sixteen acres of landscape have been constructed upon over several decades along with its architecture and art. When the Reeds purchased Heide in 1934, it was an abandoned former dairy farm. They immediately set about restoring and expanding the productive kitchen garden close to the old farmhouse and initiated a large planting scheme, hoping to transform the estate into a green parkland. Nowadays the cultivated landscape consists of a sculpture park with over forty sculptures, some of the original gardens now heritage listed, an Indigenous Remnant Conservation Zone and a diverse collection of exotic trees, exotic roses, herbs, flowers and vegetables.
