List of photobooks by photographer Henson, Bill

Bill Henson (Melbourne, Australia, b.1955) is one of Australia’s most notable leaders in Contemporary photography. Notable influences on his work include the famous Melbourne painter and his long-term partner Louise Hearman, and the award-winning film director Paul Cox.
Photo: © smhcomau

Bill Henson (Melbourne, Australia, b.1955) is one of Australia’s most notable leaders in Contemporary photography. Notable influences on his work include the famous Melbourne painter and his long-term partner Louise Hearman, and the award-winning film director Paul Cox.
Photo: © smhcomau


Although Henson did not complete his degree, Louis Athol Shmith showed his work to the photography curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, which led to Henson’s first solo exhibition in 1975. Since his first exhibition, the artist has shown his work in the most notable venues including the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Venice Biennale.


Fine art photography: chiaroscuro lighting as a tool to express emotions


Common themes that can be seen in Henson’s work include chiaroscuro (stark light to dark tonal contrasts), bokeh (blurry imagery), and a reflection of a strong sense of musicality.

Henson’s stark, signature aesthetic is characterized by his use of dramatic chiaroscuro lighting and bokeh blurred backgrounds, carefully employing light as a tool to highlight drama, terror, or awe.


One of Henson’s most famous projects, known as the Paris Opera Project, was created in 1991 to give viewers a sense of listening to music. The project was produced in an attempt to generate images designed to show the feelings stirred by music.

More recently, Henson has shifted his focus to both urban and rural landscapes. His works portray a sort of romanticism with dark and abandoned fringes of the city that often include lone figures tormented by longing and sadness. Henson’s project entitled 3 Decades of Photography captures three decades of his work, and is meant to demonstrate that a series is never over, but is instead only a work in progress.


Bibliography: Already published photo books / monographs


2020 Sic Transit, Stanley / Barker
2019 Principio Erat, Editions Bessard,
2017 Kindertotenlieder, Stanley / Barker
2016 Bill Henson, Editions Bessard
2015 Particle Mist, Stanley / Barker
2014 1985, Stanley / Barker
2005 Mnemosyne, Scalo
2003 Bill Henson, Universidad de Salamanca
2002 Bill Henson: Lux and Nox
1995 Bill Henson, EATA
1988 Elsewhere, Institute of Contemporary Arts


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Showing 1 - 7 of 7 items
  • .Sold out. Presentation by Stanley / Barker: " We are delighted to announce the release of Bill Henson's Sic Transit - a sumptuous 164 page hard cover book, with uncoated dust jacket, housed in a slipcase. « Bill Henson's Sic Transit presents the panorama of a world shadowed by the images and memories of the past. Two boys wrestle like an act of love, an...

  • Quick view Henson, Bill
    $137.31 Out of stock

    .Last copies - Only the "Female nude, head down" cover is available. WARNING: Please note that the boards of the covers of this book have a rather fragile varnish, and some light rubbing traces might appear here or there on the front or back covers, depending on how you look at the book under a light source Presentation by Editions Bessard : " The...

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  • .Sold out.Presentation by Stanley/Barker : "In an outpouring of grief after the death of his children from scarlet fever in 1833, German poet Friedrich Rückert wrote 428 poems on the deaths of children. Seventy years later the composer Gustav Mahler was so moved by these poems, he began work on a song cycle eventually scoring five of the poems. Although...

  • .Sold out.Publisher's presentation: "Bill Henson is a visionary explorer of twilight zones, between nature and civilization, youth and adulthood, male and female. His photographs are painterly tableaux that continue the traditions of romantic literature and painting. Henson's elegant, formal photographs – of battered landscapes and fragile, wispy youths –...

  • .Sold out. Publisher's presentation: "Particle Mist draws together works from three of Bill Henson’s earliest photographic series: Untitled 1974, Untitled 1975 with additional previously unseen photographs from an unfinished work begun in 1976. Together they form a portrait of an artist as a young man. The series shows Henson’s recognised and celebrated...

  • .Sold out. Publisher's presentation: "At the age of 33, one of Australia’s foremost photographers, Bill Henson, produced some of the most evocative portraits and powerful dreamscapes of his career. Now nearly 30 years on STANLEY/BARKER has published this transcendental body of work for the first time. Shot at dawn or dusk, in the suburbs of Melbourne,...

  • .Sold out. The story of this book, first published by Scalo in 2002 and sold out the following year, reprinted / republished by Thames & Hudson in 2008 (as stated in the copies offered).A controversial book, because it includes nudity of teenagers and yound adults, but an impressive body of work and a splendid book about and the limits that are...

Showing 1 - 7 of 7 items