Untitled (Moses in the Bulrushes)
Object numberM2025/082:009
TitleUntitled (Moses in the Bulrushes)
Creator Perle Hessing (artist)
DescriptionPerle Hessing, Untitled (Moses in the Bulrushes), Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1984.
In this biblical scene from the Book of Exodus, painted in Hessing's distinctive naive style, the infant Moses is shown floating in a small reed basket among the bulrushes of the Nile River. The foreground vegetation is rendered in simplified, patterned strokes, framing the central moment when Pharaoh's daughter, adorned with a beaded headdress, discovers the child. She is attended by maidservants, one carrying a basket of fruit. To the right, Miriam (Moses' sister) peers from behind the bushes, her presence a reference to the biblical account in which she watches over her brother and later offers to find a nurse for him. The pyramids of Egypt rise in the background, along with palm trees, situating the story in its ancient Egyptian setting. A bird with outstretched wings and one large forward-facing eye soars above, perhaps symbolising divine protection. The narrative of Moses in the bulrushes tells of his rescue from Pharaoh's decree to kill all newborn Hebrew boys.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
In this biblical scene from the Book of Exodus, painted in Hessing's distinctive naive style, the infant Moses is shown floating in a small reed basket among the bulrushes of the Nile River. The foreground vegetation is rendered in simplified, patterned strokes, framing the central moment when Pharaoh's daughter, adorned with a beaded headdress, discovers the child. She is attended by maidservants, one carrying a basket of fruit. To the right, Miriam (Moses' sister) peers from behind the bushes, her presence a reference to the biblical account in which she watches over her brother and later offers to find a nurse for him. The pyramids of Egypt rise in the background, along with palm trees, situating the story in its ancient Egyptian setting. A bird with outstretched wings and one large forward-facing eye soars above, perhaps symbolising divine protection. The narrative of Moses in the bulrushes tells of his rescue from Pharaoh's decree to kill all newborn Hebrew boys.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
Production date 1984
SubjectJewish life, Jewish artists, , family life
Object namepaintings
Dimensions
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum collection, donated by Theo Hessing.
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this archival project.