John Henderson was born in 1943 in Torbay and studied at Falmouth School of Art under Frances Hewlett, Ray Exworth, Bob Organ and Lionel Misken, (1960 - 64). He went on to Winchester School of Art, and to study in Holland at Atelier 63, Haarlem, on a Dutch Government Scholarship, (1966-68). His work was featured in solo exhibitions at DM Gallery, London, (1973 and 75), at Newlyn Orion, (1977) and was included in group shows at Espace, Amsterdam and Kunsthal, Rotterdam (1968), OK Harris, New York (1975), Chichester National and the East London Open at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (both in 1975), Tolly Cobbold, Eastern Arts 2nd National Exhibition, Cambridge (1979), Westward TV Open, Truro and Taunton, (1977 and 79, winning first and third prizes respectively), Fischer Fine Art, London, (1979, 80 and 81), Festival Interceltique de L’Orient, Brittany, France, (1980 and 85) and Sheila Harrison Fine Art, London, (1989). More recently, he exhibited at the South West Open in Plymouth and Truro (1992), was featured in solo shows at Beaux Arts, Bath, (mid 1990’s), at Rainyday Gallery, Penzance, (1993, 94 and 2008) and at the Chelsea Arts Club, London, (1994). His work is held in collections including Truro School, South West Arts, De Beers London and National Westminster Bank (UK), the Norton Museum of Art, Florida and The Housatonic Museum of Art, Connecticut, (USA).

A retrospective exhibition celebrating 50 years of his painting was held at PZ Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall, in March 2019.

A longtime resident of remote countryside outside the village of Nancledra in Cornwall, Henderson spent several years in South West France in the early 2000’s, before returning to make his home in St. Just, where he has lived for the past decade. For many years, he concentrated on scenes familiar in the Cornish landscape. Through his camera lens, paintbrush and expansive canvases, these scenes take on an intimacy and subtle disorientation that transform the otherwise casual interaction of viewing into one of seeing. Haystacks, tyres, cows in a field in Zennor, the innumerable greens of hedgerows and their contrasting flowers all became subjects of years of close work. Fuelled by the energy from concentration on a single subject, he worked on series of related paintings for years.

Henderson’s artwork is photorealist, with fine detail. His process methodical and planned. For the artist, the detail is not important, what matters is the structure and overall feeling.