ANTHONY WOODD GALLERY
4 Dundas Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6HZ
0131 558 9544/5 sales@anthonywoodd.com
A BOOK LAUNCH OF
JOSEPH HENDERSON RSW
‘DOYEN OF GLASGOW ARTISTS’ 1832-1908
By Hilary Christie-Johnston
AND AN EXHIBITION
OF PAINTINGS FROM THE
HENDERSON FAMILY OF ARTISTS
WILL RUN FROM 9 AUGUST – 9 SEPTEMBER 2013
Seascape by Joseph Henderson RSW (1832-1908)
Joseph Henderson’s contribution to the burgeoning Glasgow art world in the second half
of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th was profound. Glasgow became a centre
of artistic activity in the 1860s, due in part to the establishment of the Royal Glasgow
Institute of Fine Arts and the artists who formed the Glasgow Art Club of which
Henderson was twice president. Opportunities reached a peak with the extravagant
Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888 with its six large galleries devoted to art. Then
came the famous ‘Glasgow Boys’ who furthered the city’s reputation for art in the 1880s
and 90s.
Among the artists most regularly reviewed in The Glasgow Herald and The Scotsman
was Joseph Henderson whose early works encompassed portraiture and genre painting
but who later became renowned for his seascapes and extraordinary rendition of the west
coast of Scotland. These feature prominently in this richly coloured illustrated book.
And yet today, knowledge of his contribution requires renewal. Perhaps overshadowed
by his son-in-law, the better known William McTaggart, and vying for recognition with
his three artist sons, one of whom became Director of the Glasgow School of Art, few
remember that Henderson had many paintings hung at the Royal Academy in London.
In 1896 Henderson was declared for the first time, by his colleagues, to be ‘the doyen of
Glasgow artists’ and on the occasion of his Jubilee (in 1901) members of the Glasgow
Art Club reiterated this praise.
Anthony Woodd, whose Edinburgh gallery will feature an exhibition of Henderson’s
paintings in August 2013, has written, “The seascape paintings of Joseph Henderson have
a quintessentially Scottish flavour,…always fresh and executed with swift, broken
brushwork, the feeling conveyed is invariably one of spontaneity and an instantly
appealing sense of the artist’s oneness with nature.”