Garry Foye Portrait of Dr Henry Stenning

Dr Henry Stenning is a gynaecologist, general practitioner and medical legal specialist who trained at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. Garry Foye met him in a professional capacity and has known him for eight or nine years during which time he has become a friend. An art collector, Stenning has purchased some of Foye’s work and is a frequent visitor to his studio.

“He is a very kind-hearted, genuine man, a large, gregarious person,” says Foye. “He was extremely empathetic when I was seriously ill three or four years ago and would keep popping in to check on me.

“He’s also a very deep person, which I think shows in the work. Earlier this year he went through a bout of depression and having been so good to me when I was sick, I was pleased to be able to listen to him. The portrait went from there – which is the reason it’s a dark and sombre work.”

The portrait (guache on paper) is the fourth that Foye has painted of him. “It was done in two sittings from life – I always work from life,” says the artist.

Born in Sydney in 1946, Foye was a mature-aged student when he completed his Bachelor of Arts at Sydney College of the Arts in the early 1990s, having previously studied painting and drawing and done a diploma in fine art. He teaches painting part-time at St George TAFE in Sydney.