Children under 15 wishing to view the exhibition must be accompanied by an adult, though most of the 29 works are of landscapes, face portraits or clothed people and date from Henson’s early and mid-career.

Albury Council said yesterday the exhibition was “not recommended for children under 15’’ but a catalogue shows that only a handful of works display nude male or female figures.

A cultural services officer, Pam Owen, defended the gallery’s decision to host the travelling exhibition, which has been curated by Monash Gallery of Art in Melbourne.

Ms Owen said Henson’s work had sometimes been controversial and some might find the works confronting.

“This exhibition offers local people who have an appreciation of contemporary photography the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of Henson’s technical and artistic brilliance,” she said.

“Henson hand-prints his works on carefully chosen paper stock and tends to let shadows obscure detail.

“Publishers like to override this quality of Henson’s work by adjusting the contrast and brightness of the images for print.

“The way the exhibition clusters related images also works to make the photographs more powerful than when they are viewed in isolation.”

Monash Art Gallery director Shaune Lakin said the exhibition included some of the Henson’s most iconic works from the 1980s and 1990s.

The exhibition is funded by an Arts Victoria grant.

In May, 2008, Albury Council staff removed three Henson photographs from an exhibition.

The removal followed an action by Sydney police to seized 20 Henson photos from a show that was about to open in Paddington.

The seized pictures showed nude teenagers.

Henson was never charged with any offence arising from either show.

The Henson exhibition opens on Friday week and will also visit galleries at Dubbo, Swan Hill and Broken Hill.

Editorial