Percy Henson

Born in Three Bridges, Sussex, England in 1890, Percy Henson came to Canada in 1913, settling in Calgary where he operated a barber shop and became active with the Young Men's Christian Association. He moved to St. Catherines, Ontario and then to Windsor, Ontario as general secretary of the YMCA there. In 1939, he moved to Sidney, Nova Scotia to open a YMCA and then to Lethbridge, Alberta where he retired from the YMCA as general secretary.

Percy Henson came to art late in life. He began painting at the age of fifty while he lived in Sidney, where he was involved in the Sydney Art Club, and later received art education at summer schools at the Ontario College of Art (studying under J.W. Beatty) and at the Banff School of Fine Arts. A Director of the Edmonton Art Gallery from 1951 to 1964, he was a member of many arts associations, including the Edmonton Art Club, the Alberta Society of Artists and the Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers. Upon his retirement from the Edmonton Art Gallery, he became an instructor in landscape painting with the Department of Extension, University of Alberta.

A representational painter of landscapes and city scenes, Henson's work was very much influenced by modern abstract design. His paintings and sketches of landmarks in Edmonton and vicinity were highly regarded, and earned him the Performing and Creative Arts Award of Distinction from the Alberta Historical Society.