Pro Hart

Pro Hart

I know that Pro has been ill for some time, I have just heard that he past on over night.

Pro was suffering from Motor Neuron disease.

Pro Hart was born in Broken Hill, NSW, Australia in 1928. He grew up on the family sheep station "Larloona" situated near Broken Hill, and he was educated by correspondence with this brother Bob, and their Mother as tutor.

In his early twenties Pro moved to Broken Hill and worked underground as a miner. In 1960 he married Raylee June Tonkin and they had five children, three boys and two girls.

From age seven, Pro loved to sketch and paint. He began taking his gift seriously in his early twenties when he first used painting as a creative outlet to keep him sane from underground life as a miner. To develop his gift, Pro attended a few local art classes but is mainly self-taught. He was discovered in 1962 by a gallery director in Adelaide. From there his success as an artist began to flourish.

Mainly working in oils and acrylics, Pro will use any tool or method to achieve the desired outcome for his work. He draws upon techniques of layering, chiaroscuro, glazing, scumbling, scratching and Alla prima. Pro is also a sculptor working with welded steel, bronze and ceramics. His private complex, including a three-storey gallery in Broken Hill, houses one of the largest private collections in the Southern Hemisphere, featuring both Australian and European Masters.

His work has been exhibited all over the world, in Australia, London, Dusseldorf, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Israel, Cairo and Manila, in the finest of galleries and venues, with many of his exhibitions being sell-outs. His paintings are represented in collections owned by the likes of Harold Mertz, Lyndon Johnson, Prince Phillip, Qantas Airways, Margaret Carnegie, the Canberra War Memorial, the University of NSW and Adelaide, the Bonython Collection, the Warsaw National Collection of Poland and Cathay Pacific Airways..

Pro has many achievements to add to his successes. In 1976 he was awarded an MBE for his services to art in Australia. In 1982 he received an Honorary Life Membership of Society International Artistique for outstanding artistic achievement. This is granted to only one artist per continent and in 1983 he received an Australian Citizen of the Year Award.

Outside of painting, Pro has many interests. He loves to collect vintage cars including Fords, Chevrolets, Bentleys, Rolls Royces and a variety of motorbikes. He lifts weights to keep fit, is an "A" grade pistol shooter, and loves inventing different kinds of engines and machines. Music forms an important part of his life, he owns a Rodgers Electric Pipe organ, the largest of its kind in Australia, which he loves to play when he finds a spare moment in his full life.

Pro Hart

Selected Biography

1928 Born in Broken Hill N.S.W.
1958 Commenced painting full time.
1962 First Solo Exhibition at Bonython Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia.
1963 Commenced Eureka Stockade and Captain Cook series of paintings.
1973 First Solo Exhibition, Qantas House, London.
Represented at the Dusseldorf International Art Exhibition.
Illustrated "Poems of Henry Lawson" - Ure Smith.
1974 Illustrated "Poems of Banjo Patterson" - Ure Smith.
Larloona Exhibition, Sydney.
1975 Traveling Group Exhibition, Los Angeles, New York, London.
Solo Show, Australian Commission, Hong Kong.
Commenced Hong Kong Series of paintings and watercolors.
1976 Awarded M.B.E.
Hong Kong Show, Sydney.
Solo Show, Raffles Hotel, Singapore.
Solo Show, Tokyo American Club, Tokyo.
1977 Asian series exhibition, Sydney.
"The Art of Pro Hart" published, Rigby Australia.
1978 Solo Show Hobart, Tasmania.
Exhibited Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan in association with Grand Rapids World Affairs Council, America.
Solo Exhibition Hong Kong, Wagner Art Gallery.
Sydney Beach Scenes, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1979 New York Exhibition, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1980 Exhibition, Leivak Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt.
Israel and Egypt Series, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1981 Town Exhibition, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1982 Honorary Life Member of the Society International Artistique.
Exhibition Hong Kong.
Exhibition "Outback Christmas", Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
Illustrated "Christmas Story" Rigby Australia.
1983 Citizen of the Year Award, Broken Hill, N.S.W., Australia.
1984 Exhibition, Hong Kong.
1988 Australian Bicentennial Exhibition, Hong Kong.
1989 Exhibition "Beach Scenes and Other Works", Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1990 Visions of Gallipoli, Infinite Art Gallery, Melbourne.
Recent Paintings, "Flower Series", Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1994 Serving Brother - The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem
1995 Honorary Life Governor - St John
2001 Family Exhibition, World Heritage Art, Gold Coast International, Queensland
2002 Masks Exhibition, House of Phillips Fine Art, Sydney
2003 Opening of the Pro Hart Retrospective Touring Exhibition, Monash Gallery of Art, Cityof Monash

International Collections

Harold Mertz, U.S.A.
Lyndon Johnson, U.S.A.
Prince Phillip, London.
Cathay Pacific Airlines, Hong Kong.
Menachem Begin, Israel.
Madam Jihan El Sadat, Egypt
Warsaw National Gallery, Poland.

Australian Collections

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
State Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania.
War Memorial, Canberra.
University of N.S.W.
Macquarie University, N.S.W.
Art Gallery of N.S.W.
Sydney Opera House
State Gallery of South Australia
Kim Bonython, South Australia
QANTAS Airlines
Margaret Carnegie, N.S.W.

View his private coletion
http://www.prohart.com.au/slideshow/slideshow.html