Ann Henderson
Encyclopedia
Ann Henderson was a Scottish
sculptor
born in Thurso
, Caithness
, Scotland
. From early childhood her desire to create in three dimensional form was evident. She would delight in collecting clay from the local burn (stream) and forming shapes that her Mother would later bake in the oven. While a pupil at the Miller Academy, her art teacher recognised and encouraged her creative flair and was influential in persuading Ann’s parents to allow her to follow her desired route into sculpture.
In 1940 Ann became a student at the ‘Sculpture School’ of the Edinburgh College of Art
, graduating in 1945 (the only woman in her year). For achieving high results in her ‘Diploma of Sculpture’ she was awarded a
Post-graduate scholarship. This enabled her to embark on further studies in the Sculpture School and as a result she was awarded a mayor travel scholarship that took her to Paris. There she worked under the guidance of the French sculptor Marcel Gimond
, of the École des Beaux-Arts
and also in Museums and Public Galleries in Paris. Meanwhile, in 1941 her family moved to a farm at Culrain in Easter Ross
and it was to this farm that she returned as a student during her college holidays.
Before embarking on her scholarship travels, Ann worked for a year as a Junior Assistant Teacher in the Sculpture School, returning to this position after her travel year. She was later promoted to Lecturer and subsequently to Senior Lecturer. Ann, diligent in keeping abreast of latest art developments and with the best interests of her students in mind, introduced new experimental teaching courses to the Sculpture School. Sadly her teaching career was to end with her untimely death.
Ann’s sculptures would often begin life in her studio as clay maquettes. This method of working gave her the freedom to quickly create forms that grew and developed. Equally important to her methodology was her sketchbook into which she recorded her thoughts and sketched the natural forms that inspired her. Her choice of materials and techniques was very much dictated by the requirements of each individual project. She embraced new materials and was one of the first sculptors in Scotland to use polyester resin and fibreglass in any significant way. Ann’s main source of inspiration came from her interest in human and animal form which she explored from both a physical and psychological view point. Her sculptures ranged from the figurative to the abstract as the influences of realism gave way to that of cubism and abstraction. Ann’s book collection reveals her varied interests stretching from classical to tribal and contemporary art. Books illustrating the sculptures and drawings of Rodin, Mattisse, Manzù, Giacometti and Picasso are prominent in her collection. Picasso’s cubist approach and joy in combining materials, is reflected in her large plaster and bark sculpture ‘Hen Wife’ constructed in the forest.
Her later development towards smooth uncomplicated form is illustrated in an untitled figure (see image, right). She said of her work simply that she liked to reflect the life around her.
Ann’s sculptures have been exhibited in many of the important galleries in the United Kingdom including the annual exhibitions of the Society of Scottish Artists
, the Royal Scottish Academy
, the Royal Academy
, London, and in Paris. She also undertook many public and private commissions of great diversity.
Her academic successes included three RSA Annual Exhibition awards: The Keith Prize given for the best work by a student; the Ottilie Helen Wallace Prize for best work by a woman artist and the coveted Guthrie Award for the most outstanding work by a young Scottish artist. The Guthrie Award money enabled Ann to study in Greece for three months. Having experienced for herself the benefits of receiving such awards, she became a member of the Scottish Arts Council
’s ‘young artists’ awards panel.
Ann’s energy and enthusiasm was especially evident when she became involved in organising exhibitions. In 1969 she was instrumental in mounting an International Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture in Dunfermline
, believed to be one of the first of its kind in Scotland. This was a venue she returned to in 1972 when she organised a second open air exhibition. Ann was also responsible for an imaginative scheme while convener for the RSA commemorative Exhibition In 1976. She died before the exhibition took place but her ideas were realised through her associates on the committee.
While Ann’s studio in Edinburgh
was central to her creative practice she balanced this with time spent at her Highland
croft
. There, she and her business partner took great pleasure in breeding and showing Highland Ponies and winning prizes at agricultural shows including the Royal Highland Show
. While on the croft she worked on her sculptures in a makeshift studio space. Before her death she completed the reconstruction of a superb studio but sadly illness was to rob her of the opportunity to use it. Ann died on 14 April 1976 in her 55th year.
Bill Scott her friend and colleague wrote of Ann after her death in the RSA Annual Report 1976: “We have lost a sculptor of maturity, energy and influence, an artist whose reticent authority and breadth of vision was above question...”
Edward Gage, Art Critic for the Scotsman newspaper paying tribute to Ann, referring to her death, said that she was one of Scotland’s finest Sculptors whose art was in its prime.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
born in Thurso
Thurso
-Facilities:Offices of the Highland Council are located in the town, as is the main campus of North Highland College, formerly Thurso College. This is one of several partner colleges which constitute the UHI Millennium Institute, and offers several certificate, diploma and degree courses from...
, Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Personal Biography
Ann Henderson was born into a farming family at Ormlie, near ThursoThurso
-Facilities:Offices of the Highland Council are located in the town, as is the main campus of North Highland College, formerly Thurso College. This is one of several partner colleges which constitute the UHI Millennium Institute, and offers several certificate, diploma and degree courses from...
. From early childhood her desire to create in three dimensional form was evident. She would delight in collecting clay from the local burn (stream) and forming shapes that her Mother would later bake in the oven. While a pupil at the Miller Academy, her art teacher recognised and encouraged her creative flair and was influential in persuading Ann’s parents to allow her to follow her desired route into sculpture.
In 1940 Ann became a student at the ‘Sculpture School’ of the Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students....
, graduating in 1945 (the only woman in her year). For achieving high results in her ‘Diploma of Sculpture’ she was awarded a
Post-graduate scholarship. This enabled her to embark on further studies in the Sculpture School and as a result she was awarded a mayor travel scholarship that took her to Paris. There she worked under the guidance of the French sculptor Marcel Gimond
Marcel Gimond
Marcel Gimond was a French sculptor born in the Ardèche region of France.Gimond first studied at the Beaux-Arts Academy in Lyon and was the student in turn of both Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin. Gimond was an influential Professor at the Paris Beaux -Arts until 1960...
, of the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
and also in Museums and Public Galleries in Paris. Meanwhile, in 1941 her family moved to a farm at Culrain in Easter Ross
Easter Ross
Easter Ross is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scottish Parliament constituency...
and it was to this farm that she returned as a student during her college holidays.
Before embarking on her scholarship travels, Ann worked for a year as a Junior Assistant Teacher in the Sculpture School, returning to this position after her travel year. She was later promoted to Lecturer and subsequently to Senior Lecturer. Ann, diligent in keeping abreast of latest art developments and with the best interests of her students in mind, introduced new experimental teaching courses to the Sculpture School. Sadly her teaching career was to end with her untimely death.
Ann’s sculptures would often begin life in her studio as clay maquettes. This method of working gave her the freedom to quickly create forms that grew and developed. Equally important to her methodology was her sketchbook into which she recorded her thoughts and sketched the natural forms that inspired her. Her choice of materials and techniques was very much dictated by the requirements of each individual project. She embraced new materials and was one of the first sculptors in Scotland to use polyester resin and fibreglass in any significant way. Ann’s main source of inspiration came from her interest in human and animal form which she explored from both a physical and psychological view point. Her sculptures ranged from the figurative to the abstract as the influences of realism gave way to that of cubism and abstraction. Ann’s book collection reveals her varied interests stretching from classical to tribal and contemporary art. Books illustrating the sculptures and drawings of Rodin, Mattisse, Manzù, Giacometti and Picasso are prominent in her collection. Picasso’s cubist approach and joy in combining materials, is reflected in her large plaster and bark sculpture ‘Hen Wife’ constructed in the forest.
Her later development towards smooth uncomplicated form is illustrated in an untitled figure (see image, right). She said of her work simply that she liked to reflect the life around her.
Ann’s sculptures have been exhibited in many of the important galleries in the United Kingdom including the annual exhibitions of the Society of Scottish Artists
Society of Scottish Artists
The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organization which seeks to promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art....
, the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
, the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, London, and in Paris. She also undertook many public and private commissions of great diversity.
Her academic successes included three RSA Annual Exhibition awards: The Keith Prize given for the best work by a student; the Ottilie Helen Wallace Prize for best work by a woman artist and the coveted Guthrie Award for the most outstanding work by a young Scottish artist. The Guthrie Award money enabled Ann to study in Greece for three months. Having experienced for herself the benefits of receiving such awards, she became a member of the Scottish Arts Council
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council is a Scottish public body that distributes funding from the Scottish Government, and is the leading national organisation for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland...
’s ‘young artists’ awards panel.
Ann’s energy and enthusiasm was especially evident when she became involved in organising exhibitions. In 1969 she was instrumental in mounting an International Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture in Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
, believed to be one of the first of its kind in Scotland. This was a venue she returned to in 1972 when she organised a second open air exhibition. Ann was also responsible for an imaginative scheme while convener for the RSA commemorative Exhibition In 1976. She died before the exhibition took place but her ideas were realised through her associates on the committee.
While Ann’s studio in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
was central to her creative practice she balanced this with time spent at her Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
croft
Croft
Croft may refer to: * Croft, an area of land with a crofter's dwelling, used for crofting .* Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, sometimes called crofts.Locations in the United Kingdom:...
. There, she and her business partner took great pleasure in breeding and showing Highland Ponies and winning prizes at agricultural shows including the Royal Highland Show
Royal Highland Show
The Royal Highland Show is Scotland's annual farming and countryside showcase.It is held annually at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston over the second-last weekend in June , the event attracts over 1,000 exhibitors, 4,500 head of livestock, and an annual 200,000 visitors - making it Scotland's...
. While on the croft she worked on her sculptures in a makeshift studio space. Before her death she completed the reconstruction of a superb studio but sadly illness was to rob her of the opportunity to use it. Ann died on 14 April 1976 in her 55th year.
Bill Scott her friend and colleague wrote of Ann after her death in the RSA Annual Report 1976: “We have lost a sculptor of maturity, energy and influence, an artist whose reticent authority and breadth of vision was above question...”
Edward Gage, Art Critic for the Scotsman newspaper paying tribute to Ann, referring to her death, said that she was one of Scotland’s finest Sculptors whose art was in its prime.
Studies and Teaching Career
- 1940-1945 Diploma of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art
- 1945-1946 Post-graduate Scholarship ‘Highly Commended’. Studied under the direction of Eric Schilsky, Head of School, Edinburgh College of Art
- 1946-1947 Junior Assistant Teacher (part-time), School of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art
- 1947-1948 Travel Scholarship – she worked under direction of Atelier Grimond, École des Beaux Arts, Paris and in Museums and Public Galleries in Paris
- 1948-1950 Junior Assistant Teacher (part-time), School of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art
- 1950-1963 Junior Assistant Teacher (full time), School of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art
- 1963-1964 Lecturer, School of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art
- 1964 Senior Lecturer, School of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art
Awards
- 1945 Post-Graduate Scholarship ‘(Diploma of Sculpture’ assessment)
- 1946 Major Travel Scholarship (‘Highly Commended’ post-graduate assessment)
- 1952 RSA Keith prize (best student work in RSA Annual Exhibition)
- 1954 RSA Guthrie Award ‘Composition’ bronze (best work by a Young Scottish artist in RSA Annual Exhibition)
- 1962 Ottilie Helen Wallace prize (best work by woman artist in RSA Annual Exhibition)
Exhibitions (incomplete list)
Ann Henderson exhibited regularly with the SSA and the RSA and later with the Royal Academy of Arts in London.- 1954 Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, Edinburgh (won the Guthrie Award)
- 1957 Arts Council Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh
- 1959 The 1957 Gallery, Edinburgh
- 18 April – 2 Aug.1964 Royal Scottish AcademyRoyal Scottish AcademyThe Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
Exhibition, Edinburgh - 15 Aug. – 12 Sept. 1964 ‘Four Scottish Artists’ Ann Henderson, Henderson Blyth, David Donaldson and Alberto Morrocco, The Arts Council Gallery, 11 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh 3
- 1969 Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture, Pittencrieff Park, Dunfermline, Scotland
- 1972 Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture, Pittencrieff Park, Dunfermline (curated and exhibited), Scotland
- 1974 ‘Eight Edinburgh Sculptors’ Ann Henderson William Brotherston, Vincent butler, Jake Harvey, Jake Kempsell Bill Scott, Michael Snowden, S. Birnie Stewart Music Pavilion, Pittencrieff Park, Dunfermline, Scotland
Permanent Collection
‘Venus and Chair’ (bronze) Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, ScotlandMemberships
- Member of the Scottish Arts CouncilScottish Arts CouncilThe Scottish Arts Council is a Scottish public body that distributes funding from the Scottish Government, and is the leading national organisation for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland...
panel responsible for awards for young artists. - 1955 SSA (Professional Member, Society of Scottish ArtistsSociety of Scottish ArtistsThe Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organization which seeks to promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art....
) - Date unknown ARSA (Associate, Royal Scottish AcademyRoyal Scottish AcademyThe Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
) - 1973 RSA (Royal Scottish AcademyRoyal Scottish AcademyThe Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
/Royal Scottish Academician)
Public Commissions
- 1956 ‘Education’ (carved granite (abstract)), Thurso High School, Thurso, Caithness, Scotland. Ann Henderson donated her time, the Caithness Education committee covered the cost of the granite stone. Architect Sir Basil Spence, Glover and Ferguson.
- 1958 ‘Agriculture’ (coloured concrete relief) on gable of School of Agriculture, University of Edinburgh, Liberton, Edinburgh, Scotland. Architect: Reiach and Cowan
- 1962 ‘Sculpture Light Fitting’ (chromium and Steel Plate). British European Airways Corporation, Princess Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. Architect Law and Dunbar-Nasmith
- 1964 ‘Music’ (bronze) Music Pavilion, George Watson School, Edinburgh. Architect Michael Laird
- November 1971 ‘Man with Sheep’ (carved stone) Market Square, Galashiels, Scotland. Mr C Scott of Gala and the Scottish Arts council (http://www.galashiels.bordernet.co.uk/trail/square.html)
- 1963 - 1964 ‘They knew him in the Breaking of Bread’ (carved stone) Refractory, Nunraw Monastery, Haddington, Scotland
Reviews/Articles
- Glasgow Herald, 22 August 1959, p8
- The Scotsman, 14 August 1957, p4
- The Scotsman, 24 August 1959, p4
- Lack of Vitality at RSA show, Martin Baillie, Glasgow Herald, 22 April 1971
- Photograph, RSA members selecting work for summer exhibition, Glasgow Herald, 17 March 1972
- Royal Scottish Academy, Edward Gage, The Scotsman, 4 May 1976
- A Strong Sense of History, Edward Cage, The Scotsman, 26 November 1979