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Elsie Henderson, 1880-1967

Main details

Main details for this item.
Reference number
1996/5892
Name
Elsie Henderson
Born
1880
Collection
Object type
  • Person
Completeness
36%
  • Biography

    AttributeValue
    Biography
    Born in Eastbourne, the family moved to Guernsey where Elsie Henderson attended the Girls' College. She went to South Kensington and the Slade Art School, and travelled widely visiting Berlin, Dresden, Paris and Italy. With the outbreak of war she returned to Guernsey but in 1916 she enrolled at the Chelsea Polytechnic in London, to learn lithography.

    She was particularly interested in drawing animals, and London Transport gave her one of her first commissions to design a poster of London Zoo, which was much acclaimed.

    In 1920 she started her own printing press and experimented with sculpture between 1922 and 1924. In 1924 she showed with Paul Nash at the Leicester Galleries which introduced her to Lucien Pissaro and his Daughter Orovida. She won a bronze medal at the International Print Makers' Exhibition in Los Angeles in 1927 and in 1928 exhibited at the Paris Arts Decoratifs exhibition.
    In 1928 she married Henri Baron de Coudenhove, French Consul to Guernsey. The German occupation of the island brought a difficult period during World War Two which she recorded in a diary.

    After the war she moved to Sussex and continued to paint, mainly landscapes in watercolour.
    Place of birth
    Eastbourne, United Kingdom
    Education
    The Slade School of Fine Art,
    Chelsea Polytechnic,
    Employment
    Designed posters for the Underground Group, 1917
    Role
    Artist,