Images(2)

Spanish Landscape, March

Artist Keith Henderson (London, England, 1883 - 1982)

Mediumwatercolour on paper

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsSight Size: Height: 27 cm, Width: 37.7 cm
Frame: Height: 51 cm, Width: 52.6 cm

AcquisitionPresented in 1971 by the artist.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG002724

Keywords

About MeAlan Keith Henderson, though a Scot, was born in London on 17 April 1883. He was largely self-trained, "I liked Art Schools as little as I liked my previous schooling", he wrote - though did spend occasional days at rare intervals at The Slade and at The Academie de la Grand Chaumiere. In spite of this lack of formal training he managed to attain a level of skill and expertise to rival many professionally trained artists and his work now hangs in several public galleries throughout Britain. Early in his career, he resigned his membership of The Society of Portrait Painters "so disappointed with their annual exhibitions - dismal effigies of royalties, peeresses, Lord Mayors and such". Having spurned the English art establishment, Henderson worked for much of his career on his own, and in this sense (as in may others) his career echoed that of his exact contemporary James McBey.

Like McBey, Henderson managed to simplify the image depicted so that in a work such as 'Spanish Landscape, March' only the barest essentials of the scene are delineated. Henderson uses an extremely limited palette; in this work shades of green and blue. The farm buildings, road and clouds are left with no paint, so that their stark simplicity is captured to great effect. Employing what is termed "blottesque" technique, first developed by "Glasgow Boy", Arthur Melville, Henderson has applied watercolour and then blotted it off so that the image is softened and the wonderful translucency of the medium utilised to its fullest.

Henderson's restrained watercolour views of his Spanish journey reveal a countryside unspoilt by modern developments. Whilst inner and northern Spain remain largely as they were when this watercolour was painted, some fifty years ago, other watercolours painted at the same time, such as his view of Benidorm (also in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery) highlight just how such formerly unspoilt fishing villages have been transformed beyond recognition in the name of tourism and progress.

Keith Henderson also worked as a writer and illustrator of books. His impressive output included 'The Romaunt of the Rose, The Conquest of Mexico and Green Mansions'. He wrote novels and collections of poetry and two autobiographies. For many years he lived in Spean Bridge in the Highlands. His relationship with Aberdeen Art Gallery was a warm one and he donated 'Spanish Landscape, March' along with eight other watercolours and various items for the costume collections in 1971. Keith Henderson died in his hundredth year in 1982.