What we feel about love, ageing, beauty, longing, fear, death and so on teaches us individually and collectively about our place in the world... Indeed, for me art is the highest form of education because it is profoundly empathetic and at its best it always recommends the truth and as Plato said, ‘beauty is the splendor of truth’
—Bill Henson
Exhibition Dates: 5 March – 1 April 2021
What we feel about love, ageing, beauty, longing, fear, death and so on teaches us individually and collectively about our place in the world...Indeed, for me art is the highest form of education because it is profoundly empathetic and at its best it always recommends the truth and as Plato said, ‘beauty is the splendor of truth’.
—Bill Henson¹
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition of new works by Bill Henson, a seminal and internationally acclaimed contemporary artist. In a career spanning more than forty years, Henson's extraordinary images arrest moments of vulnerability and reveal the world through the lens of classicism. Henson's sublime imagery captures the abstract dimension of objects and figures by universalising the subject. There is a powerful sense of mystery within the images that is heightened by the artist's impressionistic approach, romantic vision, and his signature use of chiaroscuro.
Henson represented Australia at the 46th Venice Biennale in 1995. Henson’s solo exhibitions include: Bill Henson, National Gallery of Victoria and Bill Henson, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (2017), Cloud Landscapes, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2013), Bill Henson: Three Decades of Photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2005), Bill Henson, Centro de Fotografia, University of Salamanca, Spain (2003), Bill Henson, Scalo, Zurich, Switzerland (2001), Bill Henson, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (1993), Bill Henson Photography, Denver Art Museum (1989), Bill Henson Photographs, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, (1990) and Bill Henson Fotografien, Museum Moderner Kunst, Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna (1989).
Henson had his first solo exhibition, at the age of 19, at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1975. The NGV has now acquired over 100 Henson works, the most significant of any public institution. Henson’s work is held in every major public collection in Australia and many overseas collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, Denver Art Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Art, 21C Museum, Louisville, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Sammlung Volpinum, Vienna, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Tate, London.
—
¹ interview with Sophie Tedmanson, Heart in the Darkness, Art On View, National Gallery of Australia – winter 2020 volume, p.20-23
Bill Henson The Liquid Night
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024
Group Show, The First 40 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024
Group Show, The Winter Bride
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2023
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2022
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2021
Bill Henson The light fades but the gods remain
Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, 2019
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2019
Bill Henson
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2017
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2012
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2010
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2008
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2006
Bill Henson Bill Henson: Three Decades of Photography
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2005
Bill Henson Bill Henson: Three Decades of Photography
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2005
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2001
Group Show, All Stars
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2000
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2000
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1998
Group Show
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1997
Bill Henson Melbourne International Festival of Art
Melbourne, 1996
Bill Henson Recent work 1995/96
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1996
Group Show, Stockroom
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1995
Bill Henson Untitled 1994 /1995
46th Venice Biennale, 1995
Group Show, Photosynthesis
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1994
Bill Henson Works from Untitled 1992-93
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1993
Group Show
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1992
Untitled, 1992 - 1995
Online Gallery, 1992-95
Bill Henson Works from The Paris Opera Project
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1992
Bill Henson
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1990
Bill Henson Untitled, 1985 / 86
Online Gallery, 1985
Group Show, Australian Visions
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984