William Penhallow Henderson

William Penhallow Henderson was an American painter of oil and pastel, muralist, architect, craftsman and teacher who was born in Medford, Massachusetts on June 4, 1877. His father was a Texas rancher and a Kansas banker before returning to Massachusetts in 1891. After graduation from high school, Henderson studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School and was the pupil of Edmund Charles Tarbell (1862-1938). After two years in Europe from 1901 to 1903, Henderson taught at the Chicago Academy of the Fine Arts and painted murals in Chicago schools in 1907. In 1911 Henderson and his wife, the poet Alice Corbin, collaborated on children's books. In 1915 he designed theatrical scenery and costumes.

In 1916 Henderson settled in Santa Fe, having previously been a summer visitor. In the West he was influenced by the modernists toward a flat decorative style. While living in Santa Fe, Henderson practiced architecture, designing and building many private houses. He also designed and made original furniture using the assistance of native artisans. He was appointed to the Federal Arts Project, for which he completed two easel paintings and six murals for Santa Fe's Federal Court Building.

Henderson had a one-man painting exhibition in Chicago at the Art Institute. During his career as an artist, he was a holder of Paige traveling scholarship at the Boston Museum School and was a member of the Denver Art Association. Henderson died in Tesuque, Santa Fe County, New Mexico on October 15, 1943.

Submitted by 203 Fine Art