Stanley Spencer
Heaven in a Hell of War
Biography
tanley Spencer was born on 30th June 1891
in Cookham, Berkshire. He grew up and spent
much of his life in the family home, Fernlea, which
was a semi-detached villa on Cookham High
Street, built by Stanley’s grandfather Julius.
S
Stanley’s parents, William and Annie, had eleven
children in total, although two twins died in
infancy. Stanley was the eighth child, and his
younger brother Gilbert (1892-1979) also went
on to become a well established artist. Stanley’s
early education consisted of attending the
school his father William set up in their garden. It
wasn’t a very thorough academic schooling but
it was artistically and intellectually stimulating,
with a focus on reading, music and nature. At a
young age Stanley began to draw. In addition,
Mr Spencer would regularly read the bible to
his children, something Stanley continued to do
throughout his life. Stanley had an unconventional
approach to Christian faith, based on his love of
Bible stories and a sense that true spirituality was
to be found in everyday things.
Stanley Spencer, Self-portrait, 1923, Oil on canvas,
Stanley Spencer Gallery (Barbara Karmel Bequest, 1995)
At the age of 16 Stanley attended Maidenhead
Technical Institute and then in 1908 was
accepted at the Slade School of Fine Art in
London. Here he was taught by Henry Tonks and
met fellow students who would go on to become
successful artists, such as David Bomberg, Dora
Carrington, Mark Gertler, Paul Nash and Edward
Wadsworth.
Post-Impressionist Exhibition in London. Stanley
became friends with the artist Henry Lamb, who
introduced him to John Louis and Mary Behrends.
They were to become important supporters of
Stanley’s work.
War Years
During World War One Stanley served first as
a medical orderly in Bristol and Hampshire, and
eventually as an infantryman in Macedonia.
He was hugely affected by his experiences,
as were many young people of his generation
who experienced the trauma of war at
firsthand. Towards the end of the war he was
commissioned by the War Memorials Committee
to paint Travoys Arriving with Wounded at
a Dressing Station at Smol, Macedonia,
September 1916 (now housed in the collection
of the Imperial War Museum, London).
The Spencer family were quite close-knit and
they rarely left Cookham. When Stanley went to
study at the Slade he usually commuted home to
Cookham each day rather than lodging closer to
the college. This, along with his habit of referring
often to his hometown, earned him the nickname
of ‘Cookham’ amongst his fellow Slade students.
After leaving the Slade, Stanley began to
establish a name for himself as an artist and
in 1912 Roger Fry included him in the second
1
Finally when the war ended he returned home to
Cookham to find that his mother was ill and his
older brother Sidney had been killed in action.
1920’s onwards
After the war he met and became friends with
the artist Richard Carline, and in 1919 met
Richard’s sister Hilda, who was also an artist.
They married in 1925 and for a time lived at
Hampstead Heath until moving to Burghclere in
Hampshire in 1927 whilst Stanley worked on the
Sandham Memorial Chapel paintings (which form
the basis of this exhibition). Stanley and Hilda had
two daughters: Shirin (born in 1925) and Unity
(born in 1930). When Unity grew up she went
on to attend the Slade School of Art where her
mother and father had both studied.
In 1929, whilst still working on the chapel
paintings, Stanley met Patricia Preece, a rather
glamourous artist who lived in Cookham. In 1932
Stanley, Hilda, Shirin and Unity moved back to
Cookham and Stanley developed a relationship
with Patricia Preece, which resulted in his divorce
from Hilda and marriage to Patricia in 1937.
However, the marriage was never consummated,
and Patricia continued to live with her partner,
the artist Dorothy Hepworth.
Henry Lamb, Sir Stanley Spencer, 1928, Oil on canvas,
National Portrait Gallery, London
World War Two
During World War Two Stanley was commissioned
as official war artist to paint the ship builders of
the Clyde in Scotland. This resulted in a series of
eight paintings now housed in the Imperial War
Museum, London.
Later Life
For the rest of his life he remained in Cookham,
making his work. He enjoyed success during his
lifetime, being elected Associate of the Royal
Academy. The Tate held a major retrospective of
his work in 1955 and he was awarded a CBE and
knighted. He died of cancer on14th December
1959 and after cremation his ashes were
scattered in Cookham Churchyard.
Words in this pack which are underlined refer
to the References and Connection sections
on pages 25 to 27.
2
1: Art and War
T
he exhibition Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War coincides with the centenary of the beginning
of the First World War. It provides us with an opportunity to look at the relationship between art and
war, and the role of the war artist.
The Official War Scheme was set up between 1914 and 1916 by Charles F.G Masterman, head of the
British War Propaganda Bureau. The scheme was a British propaganda tool and went on to commission
some of the most ambitious government-funded painting projects in the history of British warfare.
Masterman favoured first-hand testimony from soldiers on the front line, setting a precedent for how
the war would be remembered during the twentieth century and beyond. The equivalent of the Official
War Scheme in the Second World War was the War Artists Advisory Committee, which was set up in
1939 by Kenneth Clark, then Director of the National Gallery. Again, its main role was to raise morale
and promote Britain’s image abroad. The United Kingdom continues to appoint official war artists when
it is involved in conflicts - the most recent include Peter Howson, some of whose work documenting
the Bosnian Civil War is held in Pallant House Gallery’s collection, and Linda Kitson, who was official war
artist during the Falklands War.
But why use artists at all, when it could be argued that photographers and film-makers can document
events more easily and immediately? The answer is partly that an artist does more than simply document
events. The role of the war artist involves communicating attitudes and values, and the existence of war
artists is an acknowledgement that art can represent what the camera cannot interpret.
Stanley Spencer’s Sandham Memorial Chapel paintings were not commissioned by the Official War
Scheme. In fact he did not work as an official war artist until after the end of the First World War,
when his painting Travoys Arriving with Wounded at a Dressing Station at Smol, Macedonia,
September 1916, was commissioned in 1919 by the War Memorials Committee. He was however an
official war artist in the Second World War, when he painted the Shipbuilding on the Clyde series.
A striking aspect of all Stanley Spencer’s war paintings is that he never depicts moments of fighting.
All the paintings in the Sandham Memorial Chapel deal with the times either before or after combat:
routine life in camp (for example Reveille, Kit Inspection, Firebelt) or the after-effects of battle
(Convoy Arriving with the Wounded and all the paintings depicting life at Beaufort Military Hospital).
In fact in the entire cycle of paintings not a single weapon is visible. Stanley himself described the chapel
pictures as “essentially pacific”. Art historians and critics have suggested that in all his work Stanley
Spencer depicted his vision of how he wanted things to be, not necessarily how they were, and this is
just as true of the Sandham Memorial Chapel paintings. Stanley’s response to the First World War was
to avoid the horror and depict ‘heaven in a hell of war’.
The First World War had a profound impact on British society and a powerful effect on the artists who
participated in it. Along with others such as Edward Burra and William Roberts, Stanley Spencer was
part of a ‘return to order’ in modern European art after the first world war. This entailed a rejection of
abstraction and a new enthusiasm for realism in art, as exemplified by the German Neue Sachlichkeit
(’New Objectivity’) artists such as George Grosz and Otto Dix. Gradually artists and writers were able
to reflect on the war and synthesise their thoughts and feelings. Most condemned the war as futile and
meaningless.
3
1: Art and War
Stanley Spencer, Dug Out (or Stand-to)
Oil on canvas, 213.4 x 185.4 cm
William Orpen, A German Plane Passing
St Denis, 1918, Oil on canvas
Both these images are based on the first-hand experience of the artist. William Orpen was an official
war artist whose main task was to paint portraits of senior military command figures. However he
also made paintings such as this one, which is based on a scene he witnessed whilst in France in 1918.
Spencer and Orpen have both avoided depicting moments of action. Instead Spencer paints the
moment before battle is about to start, and Orpen focuses not on the plane mentioned in the title but
instead on the civilian onlookers and their responses.
• ‘Stand-to’ is the military command to take up
• The expressive postures of the figures give a
positions for action, in readiness for battle. The
image shows soldiers organising their equipment.
sense of anxiety to this painting, especially the
old man and young girl who have their heads
in the hands. Despite the bright blue sky the
image conveys a feeling of apprehension.
• At the top of the picture bundles of barbed
wire resemble gathering storm clouds, adding
a sense of foreboding to the image.
• This account from William Orpen’s war memoir,
‘An Onlooker in France, 1917-19’ describes
the event which inspired his painting:
“I left one evening and stopped in Paris that
night. There were two air raids, and in the
morning I heard Big Bertha for the first time,
and when we left about 10 o’clock, just past
St. Denis, a Boche ‘plane came over to see
where the shells were falling.”
• Spencer wrote of this picture: “The idea...
occurred to me in thinking how marvelous it
would be if one morning, when we came out
of our dug-outs, we found that somehow
everything was peace and that war was no
more... The picture really depicts the scene I
had imagined supposing that at the moment
of ‘stand-to’, it had suddenly been realised
that the war had ceased.”
4
5
1: Art and War
Stanley Spencer, Tea in the Hospital
Ward, Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 185.5 cm
Henry Moore, Two Sleepers, 1941,
Crayon, chalk and wash on paper, Hussey
Bequest, Chichester District Council
These two images don’t at first appear to be connected with war, as they both depict people at rest.
In the background of Stanley Spencer’s painting, patients in Beaufort War Hospital relax on their beds
whilst other patients eat their tea. Henry Moore’s drawing, which he made during World War Two,
shows two people asleep in the London Undergound, as they shelter from the Blitz. It is clear that both
artists have based their images on close observation and have captured the vulnerability of sleep, when
one is unaware of oneself and unprotected.
• Stanley Spencer has paid great attention to
• The postures of the figures have been well
the particular details of people’s postures
and gestures. The figure on the left, deep in
thought, distractedly rests his nose on the
handle of his walking stick. The patient clearing
away cups (on the right of the painting) is shown
adeptly picking up three cups in one hand.
observed. Henry Moore shows them with their
mouths open - you can almost hear the snores!
• At the top of the picture a blanket covers the
figures’ heads, to block out the light and noise
around them. During the Blitz thousands of
Londoners sheltered from the night-time air
raids by sleeping on the platforms of London
tube stations.
• There is playfulness in the shape of the slice of
bread and jam, which looks like a heart.
• The Foreshortened sleeping figure on the bed
• The Texture of the drawing has been built up
recalls Renaissance artists such as Mantegna
who experimented with the use of heightened
perspective.
using chalk and crayon marks overpainted with
a wash of ink or paint. There is no distinction
between the figures and the surroundings,
which are all treated in the same way.
• This drawing, along with others of shelter
sleepers, was brought by the War Artists
Advisory Committee. Henry Moore was then
commissioned to record the work of miners in
the Yorkshire pits. Coal mining was a reserved
occupation in the Second World War, as was
shipbuilding, which Stanley Spencer was
commissioned by the WAAC to document.
6
7
2: Commissioning the Chapel
T
he Sandham Memorial Chapel owes its existence to the collaboration between artist Stanley
Spencer and art patrons John Louis and Mary Behrend. Undeniably, without Stanley’s vision and
talent the project would never have been born, but equally without the Behrend’s support (both
financial and moral) it could not have been realised.
The Behrends first saw Stanley’s early sketches for the chapel in 1923, at Henry Lamb’s house in Dorset.
At this stage the project was just a dream for Stanley and he was working on the sketches without any
location in mind. The Behrends were immediately excited by Stanley’s drawings, seeing them as ‘bold,
original and deserving of any encouragement we could give.’ They decided to build a chapel in Burghclere
and have Stanley decorate it, but it took four years before the commission finally began, in 1927.
The Behrend’s decision to finance the project took commitment and generosity. The art critic Eric Newton
described the Sandham Memorial Chapel as “one of the bravest and most enlightened acts of patronage
that ever happened to an artist.” The project was based solely on trust, with no written contract in place.
As Mary Behrend later wrote ‘he believed in us, and we believed in him.’
When the project was nearing completion, the Behrends decided to dedicate the chapel to Mary’s
brother Lt. Harry Willoughby Sandham, who had died in 1920 of a ruptured spleen probably caused by
malaria, which he had contracted whilst fighting in the war. After the Second World War the Behrends
found themselves increasingly short of money, and in 1947 they gave the Chapel to the National Trust,
along with an endowment to help maintain it.
The first exhibition room focuses on the Behrend family and the development of the Chapel paintings.
Henry Lamb, The Behrend Family, 1927
Oil on canvas, 53.5 x 67.5cm
Brighton and Hove Museums
John Louis and Mary Behrend were art-lovers, and had a circle of creative friends who they often
invited to their home. They enjoyed encouraging creativity and nurturing talent by buying and
commissioning artists’ work (such as this family portrait), as well as offering their house as a secluded
place to stay and work. The Composer Benjamin Britten was one such artist who they supported in
this way. The Behrends’ taste was considered avant-garde by most people and in addition to collecting
Stanley Spencer’s work they owned works by artists such as Walter Sickert, Mark Gertler, Edward
Burra, Victor Pasmore and the painter of this portrait, Henry Lamb.
• Henry Lamb has painted John Louis and
Mary with their son and daughter. The family
are shown reading a book together, with a
piano, a violin and Mozart sheet music in the
background to signify their love of music and
culture.
• Henry Lamb was a good friend of Stanley
Spencer and was responsible for introducing
Stanley to the Behrend family in 1914.
8
9
10
3: Art and Religion
S
tanley Spencer wanted to decorate the chapel using the fresco technique, which involves painting
directly onto wet plaster. This was the method used in the fourteenth century by Giotto to paint the
Arena Chapel in Padua, which was an important influence on Stanley. However the climactic conditions
in the chapel were unsuitable for frescoes, so Stanley instead used oil paint on canvas.
The chapel building is very simple in shape. It was designed by Lionel Pearson, very much to the wishes
of Stanley, who wanted to build ‘a Holy Box’. The uncomplicated design of the building means that
Stanley’s complex images can be viewed and contemplated without distraction. Stanley Spencer began
painting the canvasses for the chapel in 1927 and it took him six years to complete all the work.
Each canvas was painted separately, then secured in place. Because of its size, the painting of the
resurrection of the soldiers, which fills the entire east wall, was painted in situ in the chapel on canvas
which had been stuck to the wall.
In much of his work, including the Sandham Memorial Chapel paintings, Stanley Spencer was influenced
by the work of the Italian Primitive painters, such as Giotto, Mantegna, Botticelli, Giorgione and Piero
della Francesca. His admiration for these artists began whilst he was studying at the Slade School of Art
under his tutor Henry Tonks. Several important exhibitions of the Italian Primitives were held in London
at this time, enabling Stanley and his fellow students to see these artists’ work.
Giotto (1266-1337) was an Italian painter and architect. He was one of the first artists of the Italian
Renaissance and his work is considered revolutionary because he populated his religious paintings with
images of real people - not symbolic representations of saints or Biblical characters, but men and women
with solid bodies and real feelings, expressed on their faces and in their postures. It is easy to see how
this approach chimed with Stanley’s attitude to art and religion; his paintings often depict Biblical events
occurring in his home town of Cookham, and the centrepiece of the chapel represents the resurrection of
the soldiers as if it is really happening, not as a metaphorical transformation.
For a long time Stanley had wanted to make paintings which related to architectural space in the way
that Renaissance paintings did. Up until the end of the Renaissance most works of art were made to
be housed in churches or palaces, rather than public art galleries (which simply did not exist at that
time). Often a patron would commission a painting for a specific space and the artist would have this
space in mind when they made the painting. This was the case for Stanley as he set about designing
the paintings for the chapel. He was also interested in doing a series of paintings that would be hung
close to each other, like frescoes on a wall rather than single isolated images.
11
3: Art and Religion
Two Studies for side walls at Burghclere
c.1923, Pencil and wash on paper
55.9 x 71.4cm and 30.5 x 45.7cm
Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham
These studies show Stanley Spencer’s preparatory drawings for the north and south walls of the chapel.
At the bottom of the studies are the rectangular paintings, called predellas. Above these are the arched
paintings, and above them, spanning the width of the walls, are the spandrels. On the east wall, behind
the altar, is the large painting of The Resurrection of the Soldiers, which measures 640.5cm x 526cm.
A large reproduction of The Resurrection of the Soldiers is displayed on the landing of the new wing.
South Wall
In the chapel there are 2 large spandrels
located above the arches on the north and
south walls.
In the chapel there are 8 arched paintings,
each measuring 213.5cm x 185.5cm, located
above the predellas.
In the chapel there are 8 rectangular predellas,
each measuring 105.4cm x 185.4cm located
at the bottom of the north and south walls.
North Wall
• Stanley Spencer has squared-up the paper,
in order to transfer enlarged versions of the
images onto canvas.
• This study shows a drawing of an operating
theatre, which was not included in the final
scheme of paintings.
12
13
4: Preparatory Studies
To create a work of art on this scale it was necessary for Stanley Spencer to plan thoroughly. He made
many preparatory studies, both of the general composition (e.g. Sketch for Firebelt) and individual
elements, (such as Camouflaged Grenadier). His preparatory drawings show how some of his ideas
remained fixed from the beginning, whilst other elements developed over time or were abandoned.
In several instances, such as Dug-out (or Stand-to) which is on display in the last exhibition room,
traces of a squared-up construction grid can still be seen on the surface of the painting. Stanley would
work out the composition quite accurately so that when he came to transfer an enlarged version of the
drawing onto canvas he wouldn’t need to make many changes.
The works in the first exhibition room include some of Stanley Spencer’s preparatory drawings. The
exhibition Artists Studies: From Pencil to Paint (in Rooms 15 and 16 of the new wing) focuses on the
relationship between artists’ initial sketches or studies and their finished paintings.
Camouflaged Grenadier, 1922-3
Pencil and watercolour on paper
50.5 x 37.1 cm, Tate
Dug Out (or Stand-to) (Detail)
Oil on canvas, 213.4 x 185.4 cm
Comparing the study below of the Camouflaged Grenadier to the same figure in Dug-out (or
Stand-to) shows how Stanley has worked out exactly how the image would look in the sketch,
changing few elements when he came to make the final painting. The grenadier has camouflaged his
uniform with palm fronds. In the watercolour sketch Stanley has worked out the tones of the image
but has not bothered with colour.
14
15
5: Beaufort War Hospital
W
hen war broke out in August 1914 Stanley Spencer was 23 years old. He wanted to join the Royal
Berkshire regiment as an infrantryman, but at only 5 foot two inches he was not tall enough.
Instead he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and in 1915 was posted to Beaufort Hospital near
Bristol to work as a medical orderly. All the predella paintings from the chapel, and 2 of the 8 arched
paintings depict scenes from Beaufort Hospital.
At Beaufort he met Desmond Chute, who was to become his lifelong friend. Chute introduced Stanley to
St Augustine’s Confessions, a series of Christian writings that validated the menial, seemingly un-heroic
work that Stanley and Desmond were engaged in at the hospital.
Stanley’s time at Beaufort Hospital was not particularly happy. The work was hard, he was surrounded
by illness and death, and there was little space for any kind of relaxation. For someone of Stanley’s
temperament, who enjoyed a rich fantasy world, it must have been very testing. But in a letter to his
friends Jacques and Gwen Raverat there are signs of his rising to the challenge: “I had to scrub out
the Asylum Church. It was a splendid test of my feelings about this war. But I still feel the necessity of
this war.”
The second exhibition room displays all the predellas, which depict scenes of life at Beaufort War Hospital.
Bedmaking
Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 185.5 cm
This picture was painted in the same year as Frostbite and Tea in the Hospital Ward (which it is hung
between in the second exhibition room). The image shows a bedroom, based partly on memories of
Beaufort War Hospital and also possibly of a house in Salonika which had been requisitioned by the army.
The picture shows men involved in the everyday activity of making a bed, whilst two injured soldiers
wait, huddled in quilts, until they can return to their warm beds.
• The photographs and postcards stuck on the
wall are painted in a trompe l’oeil style. Stanley
has included here images of his father and Hilda,
his wife-to-be (whom he did not actually meet
until after the war).
• Stanley Spencer has observed the process
of bedmaking very accurately - this man is
shown making ‘hospital corners’.
• The figure standing with his back to us, arms
outstretched, resembles a crucifixion.
• This man is standing on a hot waterbottle to
warm his feet, while he waits for his bed to be
made up.
• The many stripes and patterns of wallpaper and
fabric link this painting visually to Frostbite,
which was painted in the same year.
16
17
5: Beaufort War Hospital
Washing Lockers
Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 185.5 cm
As a medical orderly Stanley’s duties consisted of menial tasks such as sweeping, cleaning, washing,
sorting laundry, emptying bedpans and endlessly wheeling trolleys down long corridors. It is striking
that in all the Chapel paintings, rather then depict moments of drama or action, Stanley focuses on
very mundane and routine activities such as cleaning or bedmaking or preparing kit for inspection. This
chimes with his beliefs that religion or spirituality was to be found in the everyday.
• The figure kneeling on the floor, squeezed
between two bath tubs is Stanley himself.
Here he was able to find a rare moment of
peace and some personal space amid the
hustle and bustle of the hospital.
• The composition of the painting enhances the
sense of claustrophobia, with the forms of
the lockers protruding into the picture from
all angles.
• Lockers would need to be washed regularly
• Spencer has enjoyed painting the different
textures of objects such as a coarsely woven
apron, the wood grain on the lockers, the shiny
metal bath tubs and their ornate feet.
in order to minimize the risk of infection
between patients.
• These lockers also appear in the background of
the painting Tea in the Hospital Ward.
18
19
6: Macedonia
A
fter 10 months at Beaufort Military Hospital Stanley volunteered for overseas service and in May
1916 was sent to Tweseldown Camp near Farnham to train as a field medical orderly. He was
then posted to Salonika in Macedonia, joining the 68th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps.
In February 1918 Stanley finally achieved his wish to be a soldier when he was transferred as an
infantryman to C Company, 7th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment.
Stanley’s paintings depict ordinary soldiers, his compatriots, in keeping with his views on the sanctity
of the ordinary. For him these were the important people, not the Generals and Colonels. Only one
painting, Map Reading, contains an image of a commanding officer. Stanley wrote drily, “Be careful
what you say about this picture, it’s got an officer in it.”
Five of the eight arched paintings (on display in the third exhibition room) depict scenes from
Macedonia. These are: Dug out (or Stand-to), Reveille, Filling Water-bottles, Map Reading and
Firebelt. Of the remaining arched paintings, Convoy Arriving with the Wounded and Ablutions
refer to Beaufort War Hospital and Kit Inspection is set in the training camp at Tweseldown, near
Farnham in Surrey.
Filling Water-Bottles
Oil on canvas, 213.5 x 185.5 cm
This scene of soldiers filling their water-bottles is an occurence that Stanley Spencer witnessed often
in Macedonia: “There is a great crowd of men round a Greek fountain or drinking-water trough (usually
two slabs of marble, one set vertically into the side of a hill, having a slit-shaped hole in it which the
other slab fits...) What rather amused me was that often you could see the water trickling down the
little groove made by it in the rock.”
• Stanley has painted the soldiers’ capes falling
across the picture like wings. The space is also
quite ambiguous - the men are leaning on rocks
but they look like they are floating in the air.
Both these elements combine to make them
appear more like angels than soldiers.
• The leather strap on the water bottle forms a
wide grin on this soldier’s face.
• This soldier relaxes whilst taking a drink and
distractedly plays with the horse’s mane, much
like a small child would play with a blanket or
soft toy whilst being bottle-fed.
20
21
6: Macedonia
Reveille
Oil on canvas, 213.5 x 185.5 cm
This painting shows soldiers waking up in their tent and beginning their daily routine - getting out of
bed and out from under the mosquito nets they sleep beneath, dressing and shaving. During his time in
Macedonia Stanley caught malaria on three occasions and as a result was moved four times to different
Field Ambulances or hospitals. He found this very unsettling, especially as it meant repeatedly losing
touch with the friends he had made.
• The title refers to Reveille, the bugle call used
to wake soldiers at sunrise. The name comes
from the french word réveillé, which means
‘wake up’.
• In the chapel this painting follows the central
image of The Resurrection of the Soldiers.
Linking to that image, Stanley intended
Reveille to refer to rebirth in the symbolic,
spiritual sense of the resurrection,as well as
the daily rebirth we experience on awakening
each morning.
• Mosquito nets shrowd the soldiers like
cocoons from which they are emerging.
These nets protected men from the malariacarrying mosquitoes, a cloud of which can be
seen clustering at the top of the picture.
• This is the only chapel painting that refers
in any way to the specific experiences of
Mary Behrend’s brother, Lt. Harry Willoughby
Sandham, to whom the chapel is dedicated.
He died in 1920 as a result of contracting
malaria whilst serving during the war.
22
23
Some Important dates in Stanley Spencer’s Life
1891
Born in Cookham, Berkshire, 30 June
1907
Attends Maidenhead Technical Institute to study art
1908-12
Attends Slade School of Art, London
1912
Work shown in Roger Fry’s Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition, London
1915-18
Serves in World War 1, first in the Royal Army Medical Corps and then in the Royal Berkshire Regiment
1919
Meets Richard Carline and his sister Hilda (both artists)
1925
Marries Hilda Carline. Their daughter Shirin is born in November
1927
Has his first solo exhibition, at the Goupil Gallery, London
1927-32
Works on the cycle of Sandham Memorial Chapel paintings at Burghclere in Hampshire
1930
Second daughter Unity born
1932 Returns with his family to live in Cookham
1937
Divorces Hilda and marries Patricia Preece. Remains in contact with Hilda throughout her life
1940
Commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee to document shipbuilders on the Clyde in Scotland. The
Shipbuilding on the Clyde series of paintings produced between 1940-46
1945-50
Creates the Port Glasgow Resurrection series of paintings
1950
Elected Member of the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Awarded CBE. Hilda dies 1 November
1955
Retrospective exhibition at Tate Gallery, London
1959Knighted. Dies 14 December in Cliveden, Berkshire
24
References and Connections
Biography
of America to join the war on the British and
French side. It commissioned writers like H.G.
Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle as well as artists.
Henry Tonks (1862-1937) British surgeon,
painter and influential teacher. He combined his
interests in surgery and art in a series of powerful
pastel drawings of facial injuries sustained by
soldiers during WW1.
Second World War Global conflict which began
on 1 September 1939 and ended on 2 September
1945. It resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85
million deaths, including the Holocaust and the first
use of nuclear weapons in combat.
David Bomberg (1890-1957) avant-garde
British painter. Fought in World War 1 on the
Western Front.
War Artists Advisory Committee Organisation
which commissioned artists to record the Second
World War at home and abroad in order to raise
morale and promote Britain’s image overseas. At
the end of the war, the WAAC’s collection
consisted of 5,570 works, over half of which are
held by the Imperial War Museum.
Mark Gertler (1891 - 1939) British painter,
who along with David Bomberg, was one of the
‘Whitechapel Boys’, a group of anglo-Jewish
artists and writers of the early 20th century.
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) British painter
and decorative artist associated with the
Bloomsbury Group.
Peter Howson (1958-) Scottish painter who
studied at Glasgow School of Art. Awarded OBE in
2009.
Paul Nash (1889-1946) British painter,
illustrator and official war artist in both world
wars. He fought on the Western Front in WW1
before being invalided home.
Bosnian Civil War International armed conflict
which took place between April 1992 and
December 1993 in Bosnia Herzegovina, involving
Serbs and Croats, as a result of the break-up of
former Yugoslavia.
Edward Wadsworth (1889-1949) English
Vorticist artist. He served in the Royal Navy
Volunteer Reserve during WW1, designing
camouflaged ‘Dazzle ships’.
Linda Kitson (1945-) British artist. First female
artist to be officially commissioned to accompany
troops into battle.
Roger Fry (1866-1934) English artist and art
critic, member of the Bloomsbury Group. He
originated the term ‘Post-Impressionism’.
Falklands War Also known in Spanish as the
Guerra de Las Malvinas, a ten-week war in 1982
between Britain and Argentina over two South
Atlantic territories, the Falkland Islands and the
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.
Post-Impressionism Term coined by Roger Fry to
describe developments in French art since Manet.
Key artists are Gauguin, Cézanne and Van Gogh.
1. Art and War
Edward Burra (1905-1976) British figurative
painter influenced by Surrealism and an interest in
the macabre.
First World War Also known as the Great War, a
global war centred on Europe. It began on 28 July
1914 and ended on 11 November 1918.
William Roberts (1895-1980) British Cubist
painter. He served in WW1 on the Western Front,
then became an official war artist in 1918.
War Propaganda Bureau organisation in
operation during the First World War. Its aim
was to distribute information about the war,
specifically to encourage the United States
Neue Sachlichkeit German term that translates
as ‘New Objectivity’. It refers to artists working in
the Weimar Republic between the two world wars.
Their work was characterised by raw realism and
25
satire, often focusing on grotesque or perverse
aspects of modern life.
Henry Lamb (1883-1960) Australian-born
British painter. He was a founder member of the
Camden Town Group in 1911 and the London
Group in 1913.
George Grosz (1893-1959) German artist who
fought in WW1. He is especially known for his
acerbic depictions of life in 1920’s Berlin.
Bughclere Village in Hampshire where the
Sandham Memorial Chapel is located. It is close
to the border with Berkshire and 4 miles south
of Newbury.
Otto Dix (1891-1969) German artist who,
like Grosz, fought in WW1 and subsequently
documented life in the Weimar Republic in the
1920’s and 30s. In 1924 he published a
portfolio of 50 etchings entitled ‘Der Krieg’
(War) based on his experiences.
Patronage The support given by an organisation
or individual to another. Artists have often had
patrons who take an interest in their work and
either buy existing artworks or commission new
ones to be made.
William Orpen (1878-1931) Irish portrait
painter and official war artist. He documented
the Versailles Peace Conference in Paris at the
end of the First World War.
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Important
British composer, conductor and pianist who
was a central figure of 20th century classical
music. His works include the opera Peter Grimes
(1945) and War Requiem (1962) .
Big Bertha Nickname of the super-heavy Howitzer
gun developed by Germany at the start of the First
World War. It fired shells weighing 820kg and had a
firing range of more than 7 miles.
Avant-garde A term referring to the cutting
edge, experimental or innovative exponents of
any field, especially art. It comes from the French
for “advanced guard”.
Bosche or bosche Slang for ‘German’. It comes
from the French word alboche, which itself derives from the words Allemand (“German”) and
caboche (“cabbage” or “head”).
Walter Sickert (1860-1942) German born
British painter who was a member of the Camden
Town Group. He was particularly interested in
depicting urban culture and working class life.
The Blitz 8-month period of sustained bombing
of the UK by Nazi Germany in the Second World
War. It resulted in more than 40,000 civilian
deaths. The word comes from the German word
blitz, which means ‘lightning’.
Victor Pasmore (1908-1998) British artist and
architect who pioneered abstract art in the U.K.
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) Italian painter
who is particularly admired for his use of extreme
perspective. Some of Spencer’s foreshortened
figures make reference to Mantegna’s paintings.
3. Art and Religion
Fresco Mural painting technique which involves
painting into wet plaster, so that when the plaster
dries the resulting image becomes an integral part
of the wall. The term derives from the italian word
for “fresh” (fresco), because the painting must be
done while the plaster is still fresh.
Reserved occupation Workers in reserved
occupations were forbidden from fighting in the
war as their jobs were considered vital to the war
effort.
Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) Italian painter
from Florence. He is considered to be the first of
the Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance.
2. Commissioning the Chapel
John Louis and Mary Behrend (1881-1972 and
1883-1977) Important supporters of artists and
musicians, including Stanley Spencer. They lived at
Grey House at Burghclere, Hampshire.
Arena Chapel, Padua, also known as the
Scrovegni Chapel after the name of the family
who commissioned it. Giotto completed the
26
decoration of the chapel in around 1305. The
mural cycle depicts the lives of the Virgin Mary
and Christ.
5. Beaufort War Hospital
Royal Army Medical Corps Specialist corps
in the British Army formed in 1898, providing
medical services to all British Army personnel
and their families in war and in peace.
Lionel Pearson (1879-1953) Architect who,
with Charles Jagger, designed the Royal Artillery
Memorial in Hyde Park Corner.
Desmond Chute (1895-1962) English poet and
artist who also studied at the Slade School of Art.
Italian Primitives Collective term for artists of
the pre- and early Renaissance such as Cimabue,
Giotto, Fra Angelico, Mantegna, Botticelli and
Piero della Francesca.
Trompe l’oeil Style of art in which realistic
imagery creates the illusion that the depicted
objects really exist in three dimensions. The term
comes from the French for “deceive the eye”.
Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445-1520) Itallian
painter who belonged to the Florentine School
under the patronage of the Medici family. His
best known work is The Birth of Venus.
Hospital Corners An extremely neat way of
making a bed. In the military, great emphasis is
put on performing everyday chores to a high
standard and keeping personal effects tidy.
Giorgione (1477-1510) Italian painter of the
High Renaissance in Venice.
Piero della Francesca (1415-1492) Italian
painter of the early Renaissance. He is admired
for his use of perspective, elegant compositional
construction and the solidity of his figures, along
with compassionate content.
6. Macedonia
Overseas service Being sent to foreign countries
to serve in the military.
Tweseldown Camp A training and transit camp
for troops, near Aldershot in Surrey. It was used
in the First and Second World Wars.
Renaissance Term meaning ‘re-birth’, referring
to the cultural period in Europe spanning roughly
the 14th to 17th centuries and encompassing
the arts, science and politics. In the arts it was
characterised by a renewed interest in classical
ideas, and the development of linear perspective
and naturalistic realism.
Salonika in Macedonia also called Thessaslonika,
the second largest city in Greece. The Salonika
Front was formed in 1915 when the Allies (Britain,
France, Russia and Italy) defended Serbia when it
was attacked by Germany, Austria-Hungary and
Bulgaria.
Preparatory Work done prior to completing a
final piece. This may take the form of sketches,
painted studies, or maquettes - anything which
enables the artist to work out how he or she will
make the finished artwork.
68th Field Ambulance Field Ambulances were
mobile medical units, each composed of 10
officers and 224 men. They operated on the
front line, caring for and transporting casualties
to dressing stations where they could receive
further treatment.
Predella The painting or sculpture along the
frame at the bottom of an altar piece.
Spandrel The space between two arches and a
rectangular border.
Infantryman Soldiers who fight on foot and
engage in face-to-face combat, as opposed to
cavalry (on horseback), armoured cavalry (in
tanks) or artillery (with long-range weapons).
Squared-up Method of drawing a grid over
an image in order to plot key points and then
transfer these points to a corresponding grid
onto another surface, such as a wall or a larger
piece of paper or canvas.
Royal Berkshire Regiment British army infantry
regiment that existed from 1881 to 1959, with
headquarters at Reading.
27
Written and designed by:
Louise Bristow, with assistance from Katy Norris,
Curatorial Assistant and Natalie Franklin, Learning
Programme Coordinator
[email protected], 01243 770839
Telephone 01243 774557
[email protected]
www.pallant.org.uk
9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1TJ
28