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/Biography of Sir Stanley Spencer:
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. (National
Trust).
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.
