Marie Hart Galleries

has spent most of her life in Broken Hill, NSW and she is one of five children of the late Pro Hart. Pro is by far her strongest influence as an Artist and in all things relevant to her life. At a young age, she became Pro's Personal Assistant spending many long hours in their Broken Hill Studios working on major projects such as the Gallipoli series, Stations of the Cross, Cannon paintings, sculptures, TV commercials, Pro's large flower paintings and oversized canvases, painting refrigerators, jeans, Komatsu Excavators, not to mention Pros infamous hand painted Rolls Royce.

Marie was always at Pros side seeking creative solutions to problems like pictures that needed something or a new technique, even down to inventing and making brushes and knives to better the effect and impact of heavy impasto paints.

In 1985 she commenced working closely with Pro in the curation of the now famous Broken Hill Gallery, reputedly holding the largest privately owned collection in the Southern Hemisphere with major works from international artists such as Rembrandt, Dali, Rodin and Picasso as well as Australian art from early as Federation through to Heidelberg school and post Second World War to contemporary Australian masters.

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Pro encouraged Maries love of Australian Aboriginal Art which she curated for the Pro Hart Gallery Collection. Work by Artists such as Clifford Possum, Emily Kames Kngwarreye, Gloria Tamerre Petyarre, Minnie Pearle, Herbert Raberaba and Namatijiras make up just some of the pieces. These canvases and objects have become a very important and valuable part of the collection with a good representation of era, styles and technique and tribe territories.

Marie is an accomplished artist in her own right with a style distinctly different from the easily identifiable characteristic Pro Hart work. Marie has jealously guarded against allowing her style to become an image or copy of Pros work. As a child, Marie travelled the world with her father on his painting and exhibition tours throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In 1989-1990, Marie travelled again on a working holiday to Singapore, England, Europe and America. Her pictures done in France, Italy and Amsterdam sold before she got them home but the colour studies she had done became a new direction for her painting on her return to Australia

From 1994 to 2004 in Broken Hill, Marie opened her own gallery called The Red Chair Atelier where she exhibited her own work as well as members of the Atelier. Marie began offering art classes in life drawing, working with oils, water colour for beginners and creativity classes for kids, taught by her and other professional artists both local and visiting.

Besides being a gallery, the Atelier was a studio space in which both professional and novice artists came together. All forms of painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and filmmaking took place. It was a very creative atmosphere which had no formal teachers, just other professional artists who would use the space and instead of paying for the area and equipment, would work with and mentor people of all ages and experience.

Marie has exhibited her work since 1983 in mixed exhibitions and various shows and was launched as an Artist in her own right after an Australia Day exhibition at the Adeliade Casino in January of 1987 where she outsold Pro Hart on opening night. Since then her work has sold in galleries throughout Australia and she hangs in collections here and overseas, most recently Sofia, Bulgaria.

Marie relocated to Adelaide, South Australia in December 2004 and is living on the coast with her two children. In addition to enjoying her success as an artist Marie has developed with a commercial business partner the establishment of Marie Hart Galleries, a gallery that sells and exhibits artwork and offers services such as art classes, specialist consulting and the commissioning of new works.