started experimenting in his bathroom darkroom,
making photograms, double exposures, distorted and
folded paper prints, and drawing on glass negative
plates. He sometimes hand coloured these complex
images. As he saw it ‘‘if you encounter photography
for yourself in a way you’re going to reinvent photo-
graphy for a while.’’ These works were a starting point
from which his later collages were to develop.
In the 1950s, he worked briefly forVogueand the
Architectural Reviewbut gave up the idea of com-
mercial photography when he was asked to teach
photography at the Central School of Art and
found teaching a ‘‘great stimulus’’ and a shared
enthusiasm. After his move to Essex in 1954 he
continued teaching, first at Colchester School of
Art and later at Norwich School of Art, where he
became Head of Photography in 1965. The Paoloz-
zis had also moved to Essex and together the two
couples set up Hammer Prints Ltd., a successful
textile and ceramic design company.
In the 1950s, Henderson was part of the Inde-
pendent Group based at the Institute of Contem-
porary Arts and was regarded as a key and
influential figure of the period, in particular by
his contemporaries. With his friends, Paolozzi and
architects Alison and Peter Smithson, he was
involved in two major and controversial exhibi-
tions:Parallel of Life and Artat the Institute of
Contemporary Arts in 1953 andThis Is Tomorrow
at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1956 for which
the group made the installationPatio and Pavilion.
A number of works by Henderson from this exhi-
bition are now owned by the Tate.
However, although he was a prolific artist, Hen-
derson professed a lack of interest in a career as an
artist and was motivated by what he described in
1978 as a ‘‘very strong amateur passion. It’s a very
rude word now for some reason and I’m sorry
because I like the word. It means doing things for
the love of it. I can’t see anything wrong with that.’’
After his move out of London he exhibited less and
was almost unknown to a generation of art lovers.
It was only after his death in 1985 that his work
gradually began to be exhibited again and recog-
nised as a significant and influential contribution to
the development of British art in the 1950s.
SHIRLEYReadSeealso:Manipulation; Montage
Biography
Born in London, April 1 1917. Studied biology, Chelsea Poly-
technic 1935–1936. Assistant to Dr Helmut Ruhemann,
picture restorer, National Gallery, London, 1936–1939.
Pilot in Coastal Command, 1939–1945. Married Judith
Stephens, 1943. Studied at the Slade School of Art, Lon-
don, 1945–1949. Photographed the East End of London
and made experimental imagery, 1949–1951. Photography
tutor, Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, 1951–- Stressed photographs purchased by Brooklyn
Museum of Art, New York, 1952. Parallel of Life and
Art, exhibition organised with Paolozzi and architects
Peter and Alison Smithson, Institute of Contemporary
Arts, London, 1953. Moved to Essex, 1954. Co-founded
Hammer Prints with Paolozzi, 1955.This Is Tomorrow,
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, with Paolozzi and the
Smithsons, 1956. Teaching, Colchester School of Art,
Essex, 1957–1960. Exhibited Cambridge University, 1960.
Head of Photography, Norwich School of Art, 1965. Three
works acquired by Tate Gallery, London, 1974–1975.
Mural, University of East Anglia, 1975. Retrospective,
Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, 1977. Died in Essex, 1985.
Individual exhibitions
1954 Photo-Images; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1960 Nigel Henderson; School of Architecture, University of
Cambridge
1961 Nigel Henderson: Recent Work; Institute of Contem-
porary Arts, London
1977 Nigel Henderson: Photographs, Collages, Paintings;
Kettles Yard, Cambridge
Nigel Henderson: Paintings, Collages and Photo-
graphs; Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London
1978 Nigel Henderson: Photographs of Bethnal Green 1949–
1952 ; Midland Group, Nottingham
1982 Nigel Henderson; Norwich School of Art, Norwich
1983 Nigel Henderson; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
Nigel Henderson—Head-Lands: Self Portraits and
Imagined Landscapes 1960–1983; Serpentine Gallery,
London
Nigel Henderson; John Hansard Gallery, Southamp-
ton
1989 Nigel Henderson 1917–1986: Collages; Birch & Con-
ran, London
2001 Nigel Henderson: Parallel of Life and Art; Gainsbor-
ough House, Sudbury, Suffolk and touringGroup exhibitions
1938 Collages, Papiers-Colles and Photomontages; Guggen-
heim Jeune, London
1951 Growth and Form; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1953 Wonder and Horror of the Human Head; Institute of
Contemporary Arts, London
Post War European Photography; Museum of Modern
Art, New York
Parallel of Life and Art; Institute of Contemporary
Arts, London
Group Show, 22 Fitzroy Street, London
1954 Triennale Milan
Collages and Objects; Institute of Contemporary Arts,
London
1956 This is Tomorrow; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1957 Eduardo Paolozzi and Nigel Henderson; Arts Council
Gallery, Cambridge
Hammer Prints Ltd: An Exhibition and Sale of Cera-
mics and Textiles etc. designed by Eduardo Paolozzi and
Nigel Henderson; Studio Club, LondonHENDERSON, NIGEL