Collection DC 030 - Papers of Clare Henry, art critic and journalist

Clare Henry FRSA was art critic for The Herald from 1980-2000. For 20 years she covered the Scottish and UK art scene in depth, writing roughly 200 articles a year. With a particular emphasis on Scottish artists, her writing provides profiles, interviews and art news pieces along with critical reviews.

Graduating in 1964 with BA Hons Fine Art from The University of Reading she became a Researcher at the Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art (1968-1970) before taking the position of art reviewer for West End Times (1976-1980). She was also art critic for The Herald (1980-2000) and arts presenter at Scottish TV (1984-1987). She wrote regular features for The Art Newspaper (1986-2003) and contributed to The Guardian, Marxism Today, 20/20 London, Ikebana Ryusei Japan and The Scotsman.

She curated exhibitions in the 1980s and 1990s including 'New Scottish Prints' for Britain Salutes New York, in NYC; London's 'Serpentine Summer Show', 1985; 'Artists at Work', Edinburgh Festival, 1986; 'The Vigorous Imagination' at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art for the Edinburgh Festival, 1987; Critic's Choice London, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992; Scots in Los Angeles, 1989; Scotland at the Venice Biennale, 1990, Critic's Choice for the RSA Edinburgh, 1994, New Millennium, Chicago and Washington DC, 1999.

She is a founding member of the Council of Management and a former chairman of both The Glasgow Print Studio and Salvo (the Scottish arts lobbying organisation). She served on the Scottish Design Council in the 1980s and on the working party for contemporary art of the National Trust. She was also on the board of Stirling's Smith Art Gallery and Museum and a trustee of the Scottish Sculpture Trust, 1984-1990.

She is also a former member of the British Council Visiting Arts panel, the National Union of Journalists, the Arts Correspondents Group London, Blackburn Printmaking Workshop NYC, and is a current member of the International Association of Art Critics, (AICA UK) and the American Association of Art Critics.

In 2000 she moved to New York where she was art critic for the Financial Times and The New York Sun until 2008. She now writes for various magazines in the UK and the USA and keeps a regular blog which can be found here. She also has a website called The Scottish Art Archive.