14 Facts About Louise Henderson

Dame Louise Etiennette Sidonie Henderson was a French-New Zealand artist and painter.

Louise Henderson remembered how as a child she would go with her father to Rodin's house at Meudon and play with chips of marble while the men talked.

Louise Henderson was married to Hubert by proxy at the British Embassy in Paris before emigrating to New Zealand in 1925 and settling with her husband in Christchurch where she began studies at the Canterbury School of Art.

Louise Henderson died in Auckland on 27 June 1994, aged 92.

Louise Henderson attended the Institut Maintenon from 1908 to 1919, passing her Brevet elementaire in 1918.

Louise Henderson frequented public art galleries and was authorised to study in the museum and library of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs.

Louise Henderson continued to work in John Weeks's studio and her work in this period became increasingly abstract and intellectual.

In 1952, at Weeks's urging, and with her husband's support, Louise Henderson returned to Paris for a year to improve her knowledge of modern painting.

Louise Henderson studied there under Cubist artist and theorist Jean Metzinger.

In 1956, Louise Henderson accompanied her husband to the Middle East when he was appointed a United Nations advisor.

Louise Henderson continued to employ a cubist approach, at times almost totally non-figurative, for the rest of her painting life.

Louise Henderson continued to be an active painter well into her eighties.

Louise Henderson completed a series of works, called The Twelve Months, when she was 85.

In 1960, Louise Henderson was commissioned to make stained-glass windows and a metal crucifix for the Church of the Holy Cross in Louise Henderson.