Stanley Spencer
(1891 - 1959)
Sailor Figurehead with Union Jack
Private Collection
Stanley Spencer (1891 - 1959)
Size:
Height – 37cm
Width – 33cm
This is one of the final studies for the painting Christ Carrying the Cross, purchased by the Contemporary Art Society for the Tate collection in 1921.
The events depicted were inspired by Spencer’s memories of Cookham in childhood, when he watched the people pass by in the High Street on Sundays and in the evenings. He used the street as the setting of several of his religious paintings. In this one, the house shown was the artist’s home, Fernlea, and the workmen carrying ladders are passing the Nest, the ivy-clad home of his grandmother. Spencer commented that he had made several drawing attempts of the cross and disciples ranged somewhat procession-wise either side of it, some of the soldiers helping in the carrying of the cross, some escorting them. This final study, which is in its original frame, is close in appearance to the finished painting.
Spencer was a devout Christian and believed God resided in all things and the miraculous could be found in everyday events. In his paintings, Cookham the small town on the Thames where he lived becomes the setting for scenes from the life of Christ and other Christian narratives. This is one of a series of scenes from the Passion of Christ. Carpenters walking down Cookham High Street form a link with Christs carrying the cross through Jerusalem.
Painter of portraits, landscapes and imaginative, visionary, quirky works with a Biblical flavour set in his native Cookham, Berkshire. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, 1908-12, where he was awarded a Scholarship in 1910 and won the Summer Composition Prize two years later. He exhibited at Roger Fry’s Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition in 1912. During service in the Army in World War I he was commissioned to paint a picture for the Imperial War Museum. He served as an Official War Artist during World War II, painting ship-building at Port Glasgow, Scotland. After the war Spencer travelled on occasion in Europe, although his work remained largely unaffected by any influence from the continent. He was the brother of the artist Gilbert Spencer and was married first to the painter Hilda Carline, then to the painter Patricia Preece. He decorated the oratory of All Souls, Burghclere, 1926-32, with his memories of the Macedonian campaign. His first one-man show was held at the Goupil Gallery In 1927. He was elected RA in 1950 and knighted in 1959. His work is held in many international collections, including the Tate and the Stanley Spencer Gallery, opened in Cookham three years after he died at Taplow, Buckinghamshire. There have been several retrospective exhibitions: a memorial show was held in Plymouth in 1963, a full retrospective at the Royal Academy in 1980, and a major appraisal at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, in America, in 1997-98
