Dorothy Henriques-Wells (1926 – 5 March 2018) was a Jamaican painter and art teacher. She is known for her sparse, vibrant watercolors depicting the plants and landscapes of Jamaica. She has works in the National Gallery of Jamaica and she received the Silver Musgrave Medal for Art in 1987.[1] Henriques-Wells graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1951, where she was the institution's first Black alumna. She taught art at Jamaican high schools and colleges for over two decades.[2]
Early life and education
Dorothy Henriques was born in 1926 in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica. Her mother Lilieth Henriques was an oil painter and her father Llewellyn was a jeweler.[3] She drew inspiration as an artist from her mother, who painted the landscape surrounding their estate and the plants that she grew.[3][4]
By the age of 12, Dorothy had voiced her intention to become an artist.[1] From 1936 to 1943 she attended Wolmer's High School for Girls in Kingston,[2] where she won several awards for her art.[1] She was tutored by Koren der Harootian, an Armenian artist, at his home in Barbican from 1939 to 1943.[5] After finishing high school, she moved to Toronto where she studied at the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) from 1947 to 1951.[2] She learned portraiture and developed her realistic watercolour style there.[4] She was the first Black person to graduate from the university since its inception in 1876.[6][3] In her thesis painting, her model was a Black woman who was wearing a traditional headwrap.[4] She also studied at the Minneapolis School of Art.[7]
Henriques-Wells was a founding member of the Jamaican Artists and Craftsmen Guild. She ran a gallery for local artists called The Art Wheel from 1968 to 1970. During the same time, she painted 360 works depicting the flora, landscapes and life of the Caribbean as part of a commission for Norwegian Cruise Line that was displayed in three of their ships—the MS Southward, the MS Skyward, and the MS Starward.[2]
In the late 1970s, Henriques-Wells and her family moved to Barbados where the Caribbean Development Bank commissioned her to create a portrait of economist W. Arthur Lewis.[2] She lived near Dakar in Senegal in the early 1980s.[7] Using burlap canvases, she painted the markets and people of Senegal. Henriques-Wells later moved to Washington DC before settling in Miami, Florida.[3]
Principally a watercolourist, Henriques-Wells is regarded as a master painter in Jamaica.[3] She often painted the landscapes and flora of Jamaica, and was recognised for her "brilliant transparent hues and overall lyricism".[10] OCAD University professor Andrea Fatona described Henriques-Wells' works as both sparse and emotive with a "poetic, realist approach to her subjects" that is "flowing and vibrant with sun-kissed colours".[6]
Henriques-Wells' works are included in the collection of the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ),[11] During her career, she participated in many solo and group exhibitions, both internationally and throughout Jamaica. She exhibited at the Victoria Craft Market Tercentenary, at the NGJ's Biennial and Annual National exhibitions, and at the Institute of Jamaica's All Island shows in Kingston.[1] She was part of the 1976 exhibition Five Centuries of Art in Jamaica since its discovery as well as group exhibitions at the World Bank building in Washington, DC. Her final exhibition was in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami in 2016.[2]
Art historian Edward Lucie-Smith featured Henriques-Wells in his 2001 book Flora: Gardens and Plants in Art and Literature.[12] She was also among the artists featured in Wayne Lawrence's 2010 book The Art of Jamaica.[13] He noted that Henriques-Wells created her watercolours without any preliminary sketches.[2]
Personal life
Henriques-Wells married Carl F. Wells, a veterinary surgeon, in 1956. They had three children.[2] Her daughter Mary Wells is a filmmaker.[14] Henriques-Wells was a well-known figure in Kingston, sometimes wearing "huge straw hats with fresh flowers stuck in the brim and shocking pink dashiki dresses."[3] Jamaican artist Jasmine Thomas-Girvan recalls seeing Henriques-Wells as a child and credits her with inspiring her to become an artist.[15][16]
^"Focus: Remembering the Teachers". Arts Jamaica. 1 (4): 1–2, 15. March 1983.
^"Lucie-Smith, Edward"(PDF). Jamaican National Biography. 15 (1): 23. 2001. Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
