Endorsements

'David Henderson, like many figurative painters, is in love with Venice. He is of course in a great tradition. Canaletto, Guardi, Turner, Corot, Boudin, Renoir and Manet, the list goes on and on; Whistler, Sickert, Dunstan and Cuming to bring us up to date.

Venice is like a beautiful woman, forever revealing something new, whether in her light, her atmosphere, her architecture or her art and David is constantly exploring and searching for a new truth. Art should be life-enhancing and of all the cities in the world Venice is just that. So Venice provides much of the subject matter for this exhibition, though David also draws inspiration from Rome, France and the female figure.

Sickert famously wrote “The utilitarian purpose of art is to decorate walls”. David’s work is about more than that but his work enriches the life of anyone who lives with it. His language is in the great British tonal tradition and communicates with us directly.
Professor Ken Howard RA October 2008



'The freedom of brushwork. It's not laboured; it's never worked over. All these lines are just taken freely and once only. And with most of David's paintings, it is the moment of a particular place at a particular time of the day, which is so very important, and there's immediacy’
Raoul Mellish (1928-2009), former Qld Art Gallery director



‘...a well educated, classical hand, that’s finely attuned to classical subjects.’
Geoffrey Makin, artist and critic, Melbourne Sun Herald