James Henderson (1871–1951) is one of the central figures in the first generation of professionally trained artists who came to live in Saskatchewan around the turn of the last century. These included Count Berthold Von Imhoff (1868–1939), Sybil Jacobson (1881–1953), Augustus Kenderdine (1870–1947), Ernest Lindner (1897–1988), Inglis Sheldon-Williams (1870–1940), Hilda J. Stewart (1892–1978), and Henry Metzger (1876–1949). With the exception of Imhoff, Lindner, and Metzger—who were from Continental Europe—these artists emigrated from the British Isles. Their work reflects the aesthetic and social values of the British Empire, which to a large degree determined and defined Canadian identity in the early years of the twentieth century.
This exhibition is the first comprehensively researched retrospective of James Henderson’s portraits, landscape paintings, and commercial illustrations. To paraphrase his earlier biographers, Henderson was fascinated by two subjects: the Indigenous peoples and the landscape of Western Canada, particularly that of the Qu’Appelle Valley where he spent most of his life. This exhibition presents Henderson’s work from the Qu’Appelle Valley, and also from Scotland, British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta.
Framed by James Lanigan’s comprehensive chronology of Henderson’s life, which will be included in the exhibition catalogue and web site, this exhibition maps a set of aesthetic, social, and historical sketches of Henderson’s life, times, and work. It enables us to understand better our relationship to the construction of history and identity in the Canadian West, and how this understanding is transformed and valued by different generations through time. This project looks at history not just to recover our past but also to inform our present and shape our future. By connecting Henderson’s portraits of Indigenous people and his landscape paintings of the Qu’Appelle Valley and elsewhere to the memories of those who remain, and to the landscape of our times, we retrieve memory and connect the past to the present. Considered in this way, Henderson’s artwork has an enduring social and aesthetic value, and its message never ceases to evolve. It serves as a touchstone for the transformation of knowledge of self, society, and place.
The many interviews—with Henderson’s family members, friends, and those who remember the subjects of his Indigenous portraits—complement the archival research, and have become an integral component of the exhibition. Many of the oral histories based on Henderson’s portraits and landscapes of the Qu’Appelle Valley and at the Siksika Nation in Alberta where he painted Blackfoot portraits are presented in the podcasts, web site, and other interpretive materials. Visitors can use web-enabled devices and the interpretive stations in the exhibition space to get inside the art and gain in-depth access to the oral histories, interviews, and comments on individual pieces.
—Dan Ring, Chief Curator, Mendel Art Gallery
To Mr Dan Ring: I have received the very fine book (calalogue) of the Henderson Exhibit. It is beautifully put together and the reproductions are the finest I have seen. Many thanks for the copy. I am hoping to get to Calgary in late October to visit John and see the exhibit first hand,
Are there copies of the book for sale and if so how might I order one or two?
Paul