LOUISE HENDERSON

Louise Henderson was born in Paris, attending L’Ecole de la Broderie et Dentelle de la Ville de Paris and graduating in 1921. Henderson later taught embroidery design at Canterbury College School of Art (1926-41) and the Correspondence School (1941-44). She married in Paris and immigrated to Christchurch in 1925. Living in Christchurch she travelled and painted with Rita Angus and exhibited with The Group, her work revealing an increasing concern for structure and composition.

Moving to Wellington in 1941, and onto Auckland in 1950, her interest in Cubism was nurtured by John Weeks, and in 1952 she studied in Paris with Cubist Jean Metzinger. Henderson’s understanding of Cubist principles (its multiple viewpoints) was distinctly European and her work was admired by a circle of New Zealand artists, including Milan Mrkusich. In 1993 Henderson was honoured as a Dame.

Her work is represented in the collections of the Auckland Art Gallery and other metropolitan art museums in New Zealand.