Lucien Henry
(France, Australia 1850–1896)
- Title
- Waratah
- Year
- 1887
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
-
51.0 x 35.0cm board; 68.3 x 52.4 x 4.5cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.r., pencil "L. Henry 87".
- Credit
- Gift of Marcel Aurousseau 1983
- Accession number
- 238.1983
- Location
- 19th c Australian art
- Further information
This Beaux-Arts graduate and Paris Communard was exiled from France to New Caledonia, settling in Sydney after his reprieve in 1879. As both teacher and practising designer, Lucien Henry made a vital contribution to the Sydney art scene during two of its most active and experimental decades.
Fascinated by the pictorial possibilities of native flora and fauna – especially the waratah, the floral emblem of New South Wales – Henry produced superlative designs for stained glass, interior décor, architecture and items of applied art. He also created this striking, highly-detailed painting, 'Waratah', with its scarlet bloom set against an intricate turquoise-and-gold geometric Islamic-style pattern. It was exhibited in 1887 at the Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of NSW.
- Bibliography (6)
-
Ann Stephen (Australia) (Author), Natalie Adamson (Australia) (Author), Anne Watson (Australia) (Author), Charles Pickett (Author), Visions of a Republic: the work of Lucien Henry, Haymarket, 2001, 66, 67 (colour illus.).
Rosie Nice (Australia) (Editor), State of the waratah: the floral emblem of New South Wales in legend, art and industry, Sydney, 2000, 18, 19 (colour illus.).
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 109 (colour illus.).
Juliana Engberg (Australia) (Author), Colonial Post Colonial, Victoria, 1996, 67.
'Useless Beauty' by Anna Elias, pg. 66-72., Art and Australia (vol. 32, no. 1) Spring 1994, Spring 1994, 67 (colour illus.).
'Members events: February 2012', pg. 40-41., Look Feb 2012, Feb 2012, 40 (colour illus.).
- Exhibition history (4)
-
Colonial Post Colonial, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, 25 May 1996–11 Aug 1996.
State of the Waratah, S.H. Ervin Gallery, 01 Sep 2000–08 Oct 2000.
Visions of Federation, Powerhouse Museum, 03 Apr 2001–14 Oct 2001.
Visions of a republic: the work of Lucien Henry, Powerhouse Museum, Apr 2001 -.
