Summary
Untitled No. 8 (Shattered Glass) is a large collage of black and white photographs adhered to paper and mounted on board. The photographs show details of diversely textured and patterned urban surfaces, principally grids of wire mesh and details of shards of glass. Henderson has over-painted parts of the photographs in black ink to create an effect of splintering. This assemblage of large and mismatched photographs and brush-applied ink markings collectively creates an abstract pattern that evokes the fragmented surface of broken glass. The work was unglazed when acquired by Tate, and it was probably intended that it remain unglazed because of the subject matter.
This work unites the artist’s long-standing interest in the medium of collage with a fascination with the visual effects suggested by fragmented urban textures and surfaces. Henderson began experimenting with collage in the late 1930s, when he worked at the National Gallery as an assistant to the picture restorer Helmut Ruhemann. He returned to this medium after the war, around the time of the end of his studies at the Slade School of Art, where he was a student from 1945-9. At the Slade he had become close friends with fellow student Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005), who began working in collage from the mid 1940s… (read more)
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