Henson: out of touch artist or evildoer?

I admit I come to the Henson table with a certain level of bias regarding the artistic world. I spent large chunks of my childhood surrounded by mad artists — some of them rather talented painters, photographers, sculptors, knifemakers, blacksmiths, jewelers and assorted crafts people — from whom I primarily learnt the art of tolerance: They don’t think the way we do.

Bernard Keane perhaps quite accurately suggests Henson must be “wholly out of touch with reality” to not understand that it’s kind of weird to look for child models in schools. Keane said Henson must have “a particularly ethereal sensibility”. I don’t doubt it; in my experience many artists are completely unaware of normal societal values and expectations. They often do not connect with the every day world, the indignant Herald Sun readers that populate it or the reactionary politicians who speak on its behalf.

The film Girl with a Pearl Earring quite accurately depicts this issue. Colin Firth plays the 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer who develops a rather intense artistic relationship with Scarlett Johansson’s serving maid character. She becomes his muse, the subject of his work, and all hell breaks loose with Vermeer’s jealous wife -despite the absence of an adulterous romantic or sexual relationship. The brilliant part about this film, as my Dad pointed out, is that Vermeer has no idea, or he doesn’t care. A monumental emotional battle was being waged within his household, but the artist remained clueless, interested only in his painting. Artists are like that.

I do not know Henson personally, but I can readily believe he was not deliberately catering for the tiny sub sector of pedophiles in Australia. Perhaps inadvertently, but as Henson himself said in The Age’s Good Weekend (October 4 2008) you can’t control what other people get off on.

What the Australian public has been missing in all of this debate is who Henson is now and has been for decades –one of Australia’s most famous and best paid photographic artists. Appreciation of the artistic merit of his work is not limited to small numbers of ‘left glitterati’. Word is on the street that his work had been steadily becoming more ‘inappropriate’ as time has gone by, but the patrons, curators and critics supporting Henson had not left his side, nor prevented the cheques from flowing.

The Victorian school principal who allowed Henson to peruse the playground in search of new models was clearly aware of Henson’s successful history and familiar with his work and, despite what Peter Faris would have you believe, not all pictures of nude children are pornography -just ask Anne Geddes. The uncomfortable gap between childhood and adulthood has been Henson’s focus for much of his career and his ability to capture it was the foundation of his career. His success partly lies in the confronting nature of such art.

If adolescence is the subject of your work and you are an artist who does not immediately assume evil lurks behind every door, you might think a school was a good place to look for models. Henson was probably aware that his work was controversial -but perhaps he was not as in tune with public sentiment on photographing children as he should have been, blinded by his spotlight in the art world?

Personally I don’t think schools should be recruitment grounds for artists or anyone else, but I do recall a girl in my own primary school who was picked up for ‘Quik‘ (before Nesquik) television advertisement in the gym after some TV people came to watch dance practice. I don’t recall anyone complaining about TV recruitment and I wonder if all parents who condemn Henson would be displeased to have their child recruited into the entertainment media.

It is important to remember that no child could have become one of Henson’s models without their parent’s permission, and that no former models have come forward to support the child porn furor descending on the artist. The principal did not abuse the children, no one has accused Henson himself of child abuse, and no parent whose child has worked with him has been accused of abusing their children by allowing him to photograph them. It strikes me that no one has been hurt in this debate except Henson.