| Who
was stanley Spencer? Artist.

Date and Place of
Birth: 30th June 1891, Cookham-on-Thames, Berkshire,
England.
Family Background:
Eighth surviving child of William Spencer, a piano teacher and
his wife Annie.
Education:
At a school run by his sisters. Maidenhead Technical College.
Slade School of Art, London. (Amongst his contemporaries was Paul
Nash)
Chronology:
1912: Returned
from London to Cookham to paint at his parents house. Exhibited
his first major work "John Donne arriving in Heaven"
at the Grafton Galleries in London.
1915: During the
First World War he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. and
worked at the Beaufort Hospital in Bristol.
1916: He was posted
to Macedonia serving with field ambulances.
1917: He volunteered
for the 7th Battalion, The Royal Berkshires infantry regiment.
1918: His older
brother Sydney was killed din France in the last few months of
the war.
1919: After the
war he returned to Cookham where he took up work on "Swan
Upping which he had left unfinished before he went to war.
1920: Moved to
live with the Slessor family in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire and
then with Henry Lamb in Dorset.
1921: Stayed with
the artist Muirhead Bones in Hampshire where he was asked to design
a war memorial. This project was however never built.
1922: Death of
his mother. Visited Yugoslavia on holiday with the Carline family.
On his return he moved to Hampstead in London, the area where
the Carline's lived.
1923: Stayed for
a short period with Henry Lamb in Dorset where he worked on some
ideas for decorating a chapel. Lamb was so impressed that he introduced
him to the Behrand family who had decided to build a memorial
chapel to Mary's brother who had been killed in the First World
War. Returned to Hampstead in October where he worked in Lamb's
studio at the Vale Hotel.
1925: Birth of
his first daughter Shirin.
1927: His painting
"The Resurrection, Cookham" was exhibited at the Goupil
Gallery. It was purchased by the Duveen Painting Fund and presented
to the Tate gallery. The Spencer's then moved to Burghclere where
he could concentrate on his paintings for the Sandham Memorial
Chapel.
1930: Birth of
his second daughter Unity.
1931: The family
moved back to Cookham to a substantial house called "Lindworth".
1932: He was elected
an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He
was also chosen to exhibit at the Biennale in Venice. He then
had an idea he would like to create his own building "The
Church House" and all his non-commissioned work was to be
for this major project, which unfortunately never got built.
1933: Visited
Switzerland.
1935: Resigned
form the Royal Academy after the rejection of his paintings "St.
Francis and the Birds" and "The Dustman or the Lovers"
by the hanging Committee.
1937: After divorcing
Hilda Carline he married Patricia Preece though they never lived
together and never consummated the marriage. The honeymoon was
spent in St. Ives in Cornwall. Patricia an amateur artist herself
was to become one of his most famous models.
1938: Again exhibited
at the Venice Biennale. Stayed in Hampstead with friends.
1940: He was commissioned
during the Second World War by the War Artist's Advisory Committee
to paint scenes at the Lithgow shipbuilding yard in Port Glasgow,
Scotland.
1942: Returned
to Cookham where he stayed with his cousin,although he still made
frequent trips to the Lithgow yard.
1945: Moved to
Cliveden View in Cookham.
1947: Sandham
Memorial Chapel was presented to the National Trust.
1950: Awarded
the C.B.E. Rejoined the Royal Academy and elected as a full Member.
Death of Hilda after a long period of illness.
1954: Visited
China as part of a cultural delegation.
1955: Major retrospective
Exhibition of his work held at the Tate Gallery in London.
1958: Knighted
by the Queen. Elected an Associate of the Royal College of Art.
1959: Moved back
into the house of his childhood now renamed "Fernley"
Marriage: 1925
to Hilda Carline at Wangford, Suffolk. (divorced 1937). 1937 to
Patricia Preece, although they never lived together or consummated
the marriage.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Tate Britain.
BERKSHIRE:
Stanley Spencer Museum, Cookham-on-Thames.
HAMPSHIRE:
Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere. (NT).
Date and Place of
Death: 14th December 1959, Canadian War Memorial Hospital
Cliveden, Berkshire, England.
Age at Death:
68.
Site of Grave:
Village Churchyard, Cookham-on-Thames, Berkshire, England.
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