Louise Henderson

France / Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1902, d.1994

On Southern Cross [Engine Room]

  • 1956
  • Lithograph
  • Dame Louise Henderson Collection presented by the McKegg Family, 1999
  • 379 x 550mm
  • 99/83

Having studied design in Paris during the 1920s, French artist Louise Henderson settled in Ōtautahi Christchurch with her husband, Hubert, in 1925, where she quickly became a significant figure in Aotearoa’s growing modernist art circles. In the 1950s she moved to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland before returning to Paris to study under the cubist painter Jean Metzinger, who fostered her interest in the movement. Like so many painters during this period, Louise developed an interest in lithography. She produced numerous lithographs during the mid 1950s and beyond, including On Southern Cross, a cubist study of the engine plant she had seen on the recently launched Southern Cross ship.

Ink on Paper: Aotearoa New Zealand Printmakers of the Modern Era, 11 February – 28 May 2023

Exhibition History