Spencer
A  L I F E

All images © Estate of Sir Stanley Spencer.

Stanley Spencer exhibition posters, rare books @ ebay.co.uk (direct link to rarities) - just checked and a bigger selection than I have seen anywhere else

Stanley Spencer
Complete Catalogue (Book) (2010)
Available: ebay.co.uk (direct link to book)
© Phaidon

Biography [1891 - 1959]

The central person in Stanley Spencer's life and art was his first wife, Hilda, mother of his two daughters.

He first met her in the dining room of Richard Carline (author of Stanley Spencer at War Book @ ebay.co.uk (direct link to book)) at 47 Downshire Hill in December, 1915. He joined her on a visit to Seaford the following April and on a visit to the Balkans.

After their marriage they lived in Hampstead Heath and moved to Burghclere in 1927, where they lived for four and a half years while Stanley worked on the series of War pictures for the Chapel specially built by Mr and Mrs Behrend.

From Burghclere they moved to Lindworth, a large house and garden off Cookham High Street in December 1931.

Patricia Preece was one of the visitors from Cooham who visited Spencer at the Chapel. He became infatuated with her and was honest about his infatuation with Hilda. After two acrimonious court cases over alimony, Hilda requested a divorce in 1937 so he could marry Patricia. They married in Maidenhead Registry Office on the 29th May 1937 though they never actually cohabited in the normal way

He remained close to Hilda and asked to remarry her which she declined. His devotion to her never ceased. He was with her in hospital when she died in 1950.

The Resurrection was painted in the Vale Hotel Studio, Hampstead Heath.

Source: Stanley and Hilda Spencer Exhibition Catalogue (1978) by Richard Carline

1891
Stanley Spencer was born on June 30th at Cookham on Thames, Berkshire, the eighth surviving child of William Spencer, organist and piano teacher. Educated at a morning school run by his sisters. First painting lessons from artist and designer, Dorothy Bailey.

1907
Entered Maidenhead Technical Institute.

1908-12
Studied at the Slade School under Tonks, where his contemporaries included Christopher Nevinson, William Roberts, Mark Gertler, David Bomberg, Paul Nash and Edward Wadsworth. During this period he lived and painted at home. Awarded a scholarship, 1910; the Melville Nettleship Prize and the Composition Prize, 1912.

1912
Exhibited John Donne Arriving in Heaven and drawings in Robert Fry's Second Postimpressionist Exhibition at the Grafton Galleries.

1915-18
Enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was stationed in Beaufort War Hospital, Bristol, July 1915. Posted to Macedonia in August 1916 and served with the 68th, 66th and 143rd Field Ambulances until August 1917, when he volunteered and joined the 7th Battalion, the Royal Berkshires. Commissioned to paint an official war picture on his return to England in December 1918.

1919
Lived and worked in Cookham Member of the New English A, until 1927.

1920-1
Went to live with Sir Henry and Lady Slesser, at Bourne End, near Cookham. Stayed at Durweston Dorst, with Henry Lamb during the summer of l920.

1920-2
Lived with Muirhead Bone at Steep near Petersfield, Hamphire, and then at lodgings in Petersfield.

1922
Visited Yugoslavia with the Carlines during the summer. Moved to Hampstead in December.

1923-4
Enrolled at the Slade School for the spring term, 1923, then joined Henry Lamb at Poole, Dorset. Worked on a series of designs for the mural decoration of a chapel based on his experiences during the war. They were seen by Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Behrend, who decided to build a chapel at Burghclere, Berkshire. Returned to Hampstead, October 1923, where he used Henry Lamb's studio on the top floor of the Vale Hotel in the Vale of Health.

1925
Married Anne Hilda Carline at Wangford, near Southwold. A daughter, Shirin, born.

1926-7
Completed The Resurrection, Cookham in l926 and exhibited it in his first one-man show at Goupil Gallery, February-March 1927. It was purchased by the Duveen Paintings Fund for presentation to the Tate Gallery. Moved to Burghclere to decorate the Sandham Memorial Chapel.

1930
A second daughter, Unity, born.

1932
Completed the Memorial Chapel and moved from Burghclere to Lindworth, Cookham. Elected ARA and exhibited five paintings and five drawings at the Venice Biennale. In October Dudley Tooth became his sole agent.

1933
Invited to Sass Fee, Switzerland, by Edward Beddington-Behrens to paint landscapes. Sarah Tubb exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh (honorable mention).

1935
Resigned from the Royal Academy after the rejection of Saint Francis and the Birds and The Dustman or The Lovers by the hanging committee. Visited Zermatt, Switzerland, for a second time with Beddington-Behrens.

1936
One-man show, Arthur Tooth and Sons Ltd.

1937
Divorced by Hilda. Married Patricia Pearce, 29 May. Spent a month in St. Ives and also visited, and painted at, Southwold.

1938
Exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Stayed with the Rothensteins and Malcolm MacDonald until December, when he moved to a room at 188 Adelaide Road, London, Began the Christ in the Wilderness series.

1939
Exhibited at J. Leger and Son in March-April, moved to the White Hart Inn, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, with George and Daphne Charlton, July 30.

1940
Commissioned to paint pictures of shipyards by the War Artist's Advisory Committee. Made the first of a series of visits to Lithgow's yard, Port Glasgow.

1941
Stayed with Mrs. Harter, Sydney Carline's mother in-law, at Epsom.

1942-4
Returned to Cookham, January 7, as the tenant of his cousin, Bernard Smithers, with whom he stayed until May 1944. Continued to visit Port Glasgow where he stayed at the Glencairn boardinghouse. Continued to work on Shipbuilding on the Clyde. Began The Resurrection, Port Glasgow series on which he worked until 1950.

1945
September returned to Cookham to Cliveden View.

1947
Retrospective exhibition, Temple Newsam, Leeds. The Chapel at Burghclere was presented to the National Trust by Mr. And Mrs. J.L. Behrend.

1950
Created CBE. Rejoined the Royal Academy and elected RA. Hilda Spencer died in November.

1954
Visited China as a member of a cultural delegation.

1955
November-December, retrospect exhibition at the Tate Gallery.

1958
Knighted, Hon. D. Litt, Southam and Associate of the Royal Collection Art.

1959
December 14, Stanley Spencer died at the Canadian War Memorial Hospital, Cliveden

Essential Further Reading: Stanley Spencer and the English Garden (direct link to book @ ebay.co.uk)