Hahndorf artist Nora Heysen was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize, and Australia’s first female painter to be appointed as an official war artist. A portraitist and a flower painter, Nora Heysen’s life was defined by an all-consuming drive to draw and paint. In 1989, aged 78, Nora re-emerged on the Australian art scene as the nation’s major art institutions restored her position after years of artistic obscurity.

Extensively researched by the author, Nora Heysen: A Portrait is the first biography of the artist, and it has been enthusiastically embraced by the Heysen family.