Harbour Crowd
Keith Henderson (1883–1982)
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery

Transcript

This Harbour Crowd. I rather like this painting. Keith Henderson, 1930-31. These people appear to be a close family community and very ordinary people who all know each other well. Their main way of life appears to be the sustenance of food and love. The everyday people. It’s a story within a story. But the artist did pick the models and was it staged? It must have been. It was the milkman. Was it the milkman and his wife and they’re real people in the picture. And I know they’re looking at something, but, I think the ship is on fire myself. And they have those facial expressions overwhelming, the light shining at you.

You’d be in shock, in a state of shock and they just can’t believe it’s happening. And they all got the same glazed face, expression. All those flames.

And that’s quite frightening but interesting to look at the faces of the people. Picking up the lighting, the light and the from the fire. You can really see the soul in every single one of them. They are themselves. And I just love women in scarves. I just love to see elderly women in scarves. I think they just look really good. So natural. And they just all look as though they know each other. And a very warm community.

The way they’re standing together, the way they seem to be with each other. I think when you get people, group of people standing like that together, I think strangers, I mean, I might be wrong, but people who don’t know each other don’t stand together like that. And it reminds people of family. That’s probably why. Community. Community. Has got that strong feeling of community. That’s right. Everyone knows each other.