Works in profile

from Untitled 1977/87

1 gelatin silver photograph, lead sheet 61.1 x 51.3 cm

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
© Bill Henson

from Untitled 1980/82

2 gelatin silver photograph 32.2 x 46.9 cm

© Bill Henson

from Untitled 1983/84

3 type C photograph 76.2 x 63.5 cm

© Bill Henson

from Untitled 1983/84

type C photograph 76.2 x 63.5 cm
© Bill Henson

from Untitled 1985/86

4 type C photograph 106.5 x 86.5 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
© Bill Henson

from Untitled 1985/86

type C photograph 106.5 x 86.5 cm
© Bill Henson

from Paris Opera Project 1991

5 type C photograph 124 x 125 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
© Bill Henson

from Paris Opera Project 1991

type C photograph 123.5 x 124.5 cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
© Bill Henson

from Untitled 1994/95

6 type C photograph, adhesive tape, pins, glassine 244.3 x 278.8 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
© Bill Henson

from Untitled 2002/03

7 type C photograph 104 x 155 cm

©Bill Henson

15 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit

from Untitled 1977/87
gelatin silver photograph, lead sheet 61.1 x 51.3 cm

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

© Bill Henson

16 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 1

 Untitled 1977/87

Untitled 1977/87 is a series of 26 gelatin silver photographs printed on lead. Exhibited as 13 pairs,
like the open pages of a book, the series layers images taken over time which were then
manipulated in the printing process. The effect of the soft lead blurs the density of images - some of
which appear in Untitled 1985/86 or Untitled 1983/84.
Many of the images approach abstraction so that identifying how layers have been built up or
peeled away is impossible. Others have a ghostly, ectoplasmic feel as though the subjects were
reaching out across eons of time towards the viewer, or sinking back into the darkest recesses of
memory.

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

As a photographer, Henson does not simply Stage a photographic shoot on location
point, shoot and print his images. His unique focusing on portraiture, using fellow students
results are dreamlike, with almost painterly as models and your local environment as the
effects. Select three works in the exhibition backdrop. Consider exploring urban or rural
and consider whether Henson’s technical and locations, a variety of models, variations of
aesthetic approach sets him apart from other light and time of day or night.
contemporary photographers and links him In the darkroom experiment with alternative
more closely to historical painters. techniques such as diffusion, texture screening,
Henson’s photographic practice has changed negative sandwiching, toning, or photo montage
over time and yet his themes or subject matter to expand the aesthetic and atmospheric
have remained fairly consistent. Trace the qualities of the images with the same images.
continuities in his use of the model, pose, gaze, How do these various wet photography
expression, pictorial space, environments, techniques alter the impact and reading of the
architecture and atmospheric effects. same image? Discuss the emotional impact they
have on the portraits. Compare with portraits in
other mediums from art history and Henson’s
body of work in the exhibition.

Installation view of the series Untitled 1977/87

from Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

17 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 1

from Untitled 1980/82
gelatin silver photograph 32.2 x 46.9 cm

© Bill Henson

18 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 2

 Untitled 1980/82

Untitled 1980/82 has been shown in various forms but in total it consists of 220 images
configured in 26 groups. There are seven different shapes in the series and the groups can be
just three images or as many as 17. The groups may follow a single line or be layered three deep
on the wall.
As with the untitled sequences from 1977 and 1979, there is often intensive manipulation of the
medium, making relationships between figures in an image fluid and organic. Individuals
involuntarily take on classical poses, and faces can be distorted by extremes of expression or
stilled by interior thought.
The buildings in Untitled 1980/82 were still to be seen in Dresden and East Berlin in the 1970s,
when Henson travelled there specifically for the purpose of documenting these structures. Their
history and tragic beauty are paralleled in the faces of those in the crowds.

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

Bill Henson stated, ‘…the entire series should Create a series of digital photographic stills in
in fact amount to one image.’ Henson pays response to the Bill Henson exhibition and
particular attention to the sequencing and transform them into a continuous Powerpoint
arrangement of each series he creates but also slide show on the computer. Carefully select
to its installation in the Gallery space. and add music to emphasise the subjective
Examine how this practice, as part of his atmosphere and mood of the images. This may
overall process, might stretch the role of the be data projected in large scale on a wall and
artist into that of the curator. Is this approach could become a class multimedia project.
evident in this exhibition design and the How does the sound and scale of the
arrangement of the works? Consider how this installation affect the overall meaning and
curatorial intervention contributes to the impact of the works? Consider how the
audience’s understanding of Henson’s works. dimension of time evident in the slideshow
affects the viewing experience of the images as
compared to a still installation. Investigate
Henson’s manipulation of time and rhythm
within his sequencing of still images.

Installation view of the series Untitled 1980/82

from Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

19 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 2

from Untitled 1983/84
type C photographs 76.2 x 63.5 cm

3
©Bill Henson

20 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit

from Untitled 1983/84
type C photographs 76.2 x 63.5 cm

3
©Bill Henson

21 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit

 Untitled 1983/84

This is a small selection of images from Untitled 1983/84 which consists of 121 images in total.
Arranged mainly in diptychs and triptychs and layered floor to ceiling, this series as originally
conceived and exhibited was overpowering in its visual richness and emotional impact. While
Henson had continued to work privately in colour over the previous years, this was his first
exhibited colour work since 1975.
In most images in this series the colour is leached out so that the effect is cold and bruised.
Interiors appear to glisten in half light and wintry exteriors have the diffuse effect of dusk. The faces
and figures of Henson’s subjects, emerging from the darkness, can appear demonic, sad or barely
conscious. As always with Henson’s work, it is not the individual image which is critical but the
nuances and ellipses from one image to another and the nature of the overall sequencing.

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

Henson’s photographs occasionally present Create a film or video based on an appropriation
beauty and squalor in equal measure and of a baroque period landscape or interior
intensity. Investigate how they can be painting. Reproduce the artwork as a set or
understood as a celebration of the aesthetic and backdrop in the classroom, using costume,
the abject. Define these terms and find where props, furniture and drapes. Devise a narrative
they might apply within the exhibition. Discuss with minimal or no dialogue, instead focusing on
the collision and contrast of these terms and lighting, aesthetics and design, reflecting an
how they may contribute to an off-balanced, or emotional state rather than a strict narrative.
complementary, emotional experience for Edit the same film footage in small groups
viewers. independent of each other utilising varying
Research the historical periods, artistic techniques with music, transitions, titles and
practices and visual languages of the European cuts. Present the resulting films to the class
renaissance, baroque art and romanticism. How discussing the similarities and differences.
have influences from these periods been Consider the power of the groups’ range of
absorbed by Henson? Compare specific interpretations of the same subject. Discuss this
European paintings to key works / series by idea in relation to the audience’s experience of
Henson. and response to the Henson works and the
exhibition as a whole.

Installation view of the series Untitled 1983/84

from Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

22 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 3

from Untitled 1985/86
type C photograph 106.5 x 86.5 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

© Bill Henson

23 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 4

from Untitled 1985/86
type C photograph 106.5 x 86.5 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

© Bill Henson

24 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 4

 Untitled 1985/86

Untitled 1985/86 consists of a total of 154 images taken in Egypt and in suburban Melbourne, of
which this is a small selection. As with Henson’s previous series, this was first exhibited layered
from floor to ceiling.
The monumental faces of Henson’s subjects parallel the arcane remoteness of ancient temples
and the structures to be found at the fringes of modern cities. Are the people and locations the
result of dreams? Or are the people dreamers and the environments the stuff of their dreams?

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

Henson’s characters rarely look into the Create a series of images inspired by the work
camera and/or the eyes of the viewer. What of Bill Henson, manipulating a range of visual
effect does averting the subjects’ gaze have on texts with the use of digital media. Research
the dialogue between the subject and the and import historical images such as paintings
viewer, the subject and the photographer, the by European Masters, classical architecture or
viewer and the photographer? Consider contemporary urban/suburban places and
notions of voyeurism, the invasive power of the spaces. These may be sourced from the
camera and the defencelessness or complicity internet, scanned from magazines, clippings of
of the object of the gaze. Would this change if printed material or may include your own
the subjects’ gaze met that of the onlooker? drawings and photographs.
View Henson’s work, both as reproductions in Use software such as Adobe Photoshop to
this education kit and the originals in the develop new images from old, creating layers
exhibition. Describe your immediate response. and manipulating subtle toning, lighting effects
Comment on the scale of the work and its and focus effects with the use of filtration tools.
relationship to you physically. Examine how this Modify and reinterpret these images to create
physicality affects your experience. Write a works depicting your understandings and
short, emotive narrative or poem about one experiences of adolescence in the
selected photograph or series using your own contemporary world. Exhibit in diptych or
experiences and memories as inspiration. triptych formats or in sequences as a large
installation series.

Installation view of the series Untitled 1985/86

from Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

25 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 4

from Paris Opera Project 1991
type C photographs 124 x 125 cm, 123.5 x 124.5 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

©Bill Henson

26 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 5

from Paris Opera Project 1991
type C photographs 124 x 125 cm, 123.5 x 124.5 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

©Bill Henson

27 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit

 Paris Opera Project 1991

In 1990, Bill Henson was commissioned by the Paris Opera to produce a body of work. The
resulting 50 images were constructed entirely in the studio and include landscapes, cloudscapes
and people.
After visiting Paris and the Opera House, Henson found it necessary to concentrate on the
total effect of music, a time-based medium, and how it could be translated into the silent, still
form of the photograph.

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

Investigate the language of cinema, literature Construct a studio-based photographic work
and music. Discuss how these other creative of a contrived scene inspired by a film, piece of
forms engage an audience. Is there evidence music or literature. Consider incorporating an
of similar techniques and strategies being used image of a European master work projected by
in Henson’s work? an overhead projector to create an illuminated
Link your answers to specific works. Discuss backdrop. Drapery, furniture and other props
how a visual medium can implicate other could be used to suggest a particular time
sensory experiences and form a bridge to period, space or imaginary, otherworldly place.
other creative art forms. Why might Henson Set up the camera on a tripod and construct
be interested in these interdisciplinary and images of fellow students with a wide range of
inter-media links? poses, facial expressions and gestures,
reacting to or against each other. Attempt to
generate cinematic moods and narratives.
Compare your results to the original piece of
inspiration.
Create a group short film or video as a
response to a work by Bill Henson. Consider your
personal experiences with contemporary cinema
and extend the frozen moment presented by
Henson into an extended narrative. The narrative
can present either the pre or post narrative of the
chosen Henson image.
Plan and storyboard the sequence with
sketches or still photographs (which may
become artworks in themselves). Individuals in
the group can take on specific roles including
directing, sets, lighting, sound, and camera
operation to achieve a cohesive and coherent
final sequence. Present both the art for your
storyboards and the film as an exhibition or film
festival. Consider carefully the form in which this
work will be presented to an audience and how
this can influence their experience.

Installation view of the series Paris Opera Project 1991

from Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

28 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 5

from Untitled 1994/95
type C photograph, adhesive tape, pins, glassine 244.3 x 278.8 cm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

©Bill Henson

29 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 6

 Untitled 1994/95

In 1992/93 Henson began a major cycle of ‘cut-screens’ which continued for the next four years
and includes the body of work which was shown at the 1995 Venice Biennale. These differ from
his collages of 1987/88 in that they are usually bigger, incorporate glassine, the white obverse of
photographic paper, are pinned as much as taped, and are presented on narrow stretchers.
The locations are no longer urban, though the city may be glimpsed in the distance, and the
models are naked. The effect is sometimes infernal and at others arcadian. Bodies can be
patterned with leafy shadows and seem like apparitions of nature or they may be severed with bold
slashes of cut paper. Mountain scapes, skies and bodies can be repeated from one ‘cut-screen’ to
the next.

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

Analyse the relationship between the ‘real’ and Reinterpret a figurative photograph by Bill
the ‘imaginary’ in one or more of Henson’s Henson in large-scale drawing. Set up a life
series through his strategy of fragmentation. model (nude or clothed) in a constructed studio
Locate and discuss examples of collage, setting with controlled spot lighting and props.
cutting, layering, editing, soft and hard focus Collage two or three of these drawings by
and variations of scale within his body of work. tearing and taping sections to create one
Consider how such devices may imply a strong unified image. Reverse sections of the paper
sense of isolation and alienation while also may be used to introduce slashes of white to
opening up the work to multiple interpretations fragment the composition.
and meanings. Experiment with selected areas of colour and
Henson’s sitters are anonymous yet tonal variations to highlight or obscure selected
somehow seem familiar; they operate in aspects of the final drawing. Consider how this
definable yet ephemeral spaces. They seem to process compares to traditional methods of
experience both ecstasy and turmoil and, as drawing. Discuss the use of such techniques in
adolescents, can be classified as no longer other media. In what ways does Henson’s
children but not quite adults. In what ways can technique bridge more than just photographic
these subjects represent the ‘other’, within or practice?
without the mainstream of today’s society and Create an installation with large-scale figurative
culture? Discuss how deliberate, simultaneous drawings in an urban/suburban context creating
polarisation might contribute to the otherworldly a contrast to the images. The drawings may be
qualities of Henson’s images. suspended within the site-specific surroundings
or attached to objects or surfaces within the
scene. Document the installation with a digital or
SLR camera. Consider how the meaning of the
work is altered or extended with the addition of
the site-specific context. Display the photographs
and critically discuss them in relation to Henson’s
‘cut-screens’.

Installation view of the series Untitled 1994/95 from

Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

30 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 6

from Untitled 2002/03
type C photograph 104 x 155 cm

©Bill Henson

31 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 7

 Untitled 2002/03

Henson’s recent work is located on the fringes of the urban environment. It incorporates his
recurring motifs of the rural, industrial, and celestial, ranging from twilight to the depths of night
illuminated as much by natural as artificial effects.
This edge of the city, where the mundane and forgotten can become romantically charged,
is populated by occasional figures who linger and dream. Their longing and loss is as potent in
the recent colour works as it was in Henson’s earliest images from the 1970s.

9–12 Framing questions 9–12 Art making activities

Henson is renowned for his dramatic use of Devise a photographic shoot around the
shadow and light, enabling him to conceal or fringes of your school environment and local
reveal figurative and abstract forms, resulting community in areas which would not usually be
in mysterious and ambiguous meanings. considered beautiful. Using selective focus
Discuss how these technical decisions allow while shooting or digital manipulation software
him to provoke a range of responses and experiment with blurring forms to abstract the
interpretations. landscape. Consider how these techniques
Read the commentary The elusive Bill Henson shift the image from a vehicle of direct
by Judy Annear, senior curator of photography description to aesthetic impression, breaking
(page 6 of this kit). Highlight or underline key concrete images into their formal qualities
terms and phrases in the text. What new and elements.
insights about the artist have you understood Use wet photographic or digital toning
from this article? List five key points about the techniques to create a romanticised image,
practice and/or issues surrounding Henson’s transforming the ordinary in everyday life into
work you have learnt. the extraordinary. Juxtapose these images with
Locate evidence of your key terms within more classical, beautiful or mainstream images
works by Bill Henson. Write your own critical of readable, known subjects. Consider how the
response to this exhibition using your identified interpretation of a whole series is the result of
examples and terms. Compare your critical relationships between the individual works
response to reviews of the exhibition. As a class within it.
discuss how written language and text can
communicate visual ideas.

Installation view of the series Untitled 2002/03

from Bill Henson, Art Gallery of New South Wales

32 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit 7

Bill Henson: quotes

The work might begin with a fleeting impression from first-hand experience
or in a piece of music I am always drawn back to, or perhaps in a paragraph
of writing I cannot forget – and then it takes its own course. I become like a
participant in some larger process I happen to be fascinated by.
Bill Henson in Bill Henson: Untitled 1983/84, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1986

In every form of art, you really want the experience of the images to
transcend the medium, for the medium to disappear into the greater
experience of viewing the work. So that you forget you’re looking at a
painting, or a photograph.
Bill Henson in Sebastian Smee in conversation with Bill Henson, Sydney, 11 April 1996.
Published ArtMonthly Australia, July 1996

… I’m interested in that tender proximity, that ineffable, fragile, breathing

closeness or presence which photography can animate while, at the same
time, allowing no possibility for any familiar connection with the individuals in
the picture.
Bill Henson in Sebastian Smee in conversation with Bill Henson, Sydney, 11 April 1996.
Published ArtMonthly Australia, July 1996

Henson’s work is a celebration of the amoral. He makes no judgements,

takes no position, addresses no issues and yet reveals all manner of human
instincts, intuitions and imaginings.
Edmund Capon, director, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004

Henson’s achievement, which lies not so much in the twist he gives to the
subject of disenfranchised youth but in the almost premodern beauty he
conjures from such a familiar and clinically post-modern source.
Dennis Cooper in Artforum, New York, February 2002

The photographs dramatise the distance between a subject who is

indifferent to the camera, taken unawares, and a viewer who looks on with
intensified awareness.
Michael Heyward in Bill Henson, Pinactheca, Melbourne, 1986

We know nothing of those he photographs; indeed their anonymity is an

important aspect of his work … Few sitters make eye contact. When they do
face the camera, and us, their gaze is neutral and their features are
impassive. At such times these anonymous people transcend their corporeal
natures to become extra-ordinary.
Isobel Crombie in Bill Henson, 46th Biennale of Venice, Australian exhibitions Touring agency Ltd, Melbourne 1995

Presented in association with Sydney Festival

Supporting sponsors: City of Sydney, JC Decaux, Sofitel Wentworth Sydney

Produced by the Public Programmes Department

© Art Gallery of New South Wales 2005
[email protected]
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/education

33 Bill Henson Art Gallery of New South Wales Education Kit