Name: Louise Henderson: From the Archive
Location: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

Louise Henderson: From the Archive

Louise Henderson in her studio with Home in Dieppe c.1957.

Louise Henderson Bush Series 3 1970, oil on canvas. Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection

Talk

Past event

Philip Carter Family Auditorium

Free

Researcher Victoria Munn will talk about her recent work on the Louise Henderson archive at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Munn was awarded the 2018-2019 Marylyn Mayo internship in preparation for the exhibition Louise Henderson: From Life. Tasked with reading and translating the Dame Louise Henderson Archive, currently on long-term loan at the E.H. McCormick Library at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, she gleaned an intimate knowledge of the rich archival material relating to Paris-born artist Louise Henderson. In her talk, Victoria will share a selection of profound and witty excerpts from Henderson's personal notes, speak about the nuances of translating the artist's French letters, and explore Henderson's life and chronology through the artist's own voice.

Victoria has worked in several art institutions, including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland Museum and Adam Art Gallery, and participated in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection internship programme in 2017. Most recently, Victoria curated an exhibition to celebrate AUT's twentieth year of university status, was awarded the 2020 Brooks Fellowship, and was invited to work with Tate Britain and Delfina Foundation to research methods for exhibiting early modern women artists. Victoria is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland, researching the practical and performative treatment of hair in early modern Europe.

Related reading: Free event

Exhibition

Louise Henderson: From Life

11 October 2020

The bold, colourful works of an extraordinary New Zealand artist.

Collection

Louise Henderson June

At a time in her career when many might have expected her to slow down or even retire, French-born Louise Henderson embarked upon one of her most ambitious creative projects. The Twelve Months distilled her impressions of her life in Aotearoa New Zealand into a dozen tall canvases, filtering the rhythms of the year through her ‘abstract poetic of nature’. Borrowing their proportions from the elegant ‘double square’ of her studio windows, they combined two important aspects of her practice: the all-seeing viewpoints and organisational principles of cubism and the ability to use colour to evoke both form and atmosphere. Often inspired by the view through her window, Henderson manipulated a complex set of variables, considering how the seasons affected the weather and landscape, the changing light and position of the sun, and the fluctuating activities, rituals and moods of people in both the city and the countryside.

In the ‘winter’ months, June and July, Henderson skilfully balanced colour, form and movement to evoke rain-laden clouds, drenched fields and cold, boisterous winds.

Commentary

Lessons with Louise Henderson

I first met Louise Henderson in May 1990. I’d recently returned from living in the UK, and moved into what had been her house and studio at 62 Gillies Avenue, Newmarket. The owner, Ross Stevenson, was still in regular contact with Louise at her new home nearby in Sarawia Street, and asked me if I’d like to meet her. I remember being quite nervous at the time and standing at the front door waiting. She didn’t open the door at first, but pulled back the old curtain on a nearby window to see who it was. She recognised Ross so all was well. She was very polite, and more than happy to let me look through the dozens and dozens of paintings that leant four or five deep against the wall in the two front rooms of the old villa.

Continued

Product

Louise Henderson: From Life

Felicity Milburn, Lara Strongman, Julia Waite (editors) and Christina Barton, Maria Lluïsa Faxedas, C.K. Stead and Linda Tyler

$65.00