Nigel Henderson: parallel of life and art

This monograph presents a selection of Nigel Henderson’s work in collage and experimental and documentary photography. Though described by critic David Sylvester as “a seminal figure in post-war British art”, Henderson has languished in relative obscurity. This is an in-depth account of the artist’s singular life which included close friendships with Dylan Thomas, the Cambridge scientist J.D. Bernal and Antonia White, as well as socialising with T.S. Eliot, Bertolt Brecht and W.H. Auden. Henderson (1917-1985) famously collaborated with Paolozzi and the Smithsons on two major exhibitions: “Parallel of Life and Art” at the ICA in 1953 and “This is Tomorrow” at the Whitechapel Art Gallery” in 1956, which both heralded the emergence of a “New Brutalism” in British art and architecture. His work can be found in the Tate, the Museum of London, Victoria and Albert Museum, MoMA in New York and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.