by Sandra Smith
Portrait of Lathonia Mercer, 1959 Stanley Spencer in Focus Unique is an overused word these days. Incorrectly applied, too, much of the time, which is why it rarely enters my vocabulary. Yet after delving into the life of Stanley Spencer I’m left with no apt alternate description because the singular distinctiveness of this uncompromising artist is evident on several levels. Firstly, he not only spent most of his life in Cookham, where he was born, but the people and landscape of this Berkshire village remained an ongoing influence in his work. Then there’s his legacy. How many others have a gallery in their name, in a reinvented Methodist chapel where the artist regularly attended services? If that isn’t sufficient justification, let’s concentrate on spencer’s most enviable USP: accumulating patrons immediately after leaving the Slade School of Fine Art, enabling him to make a living as an artist, as a result of which his work was recognised during his own lifetime.
Such public acknowledgment continues in the shape of Stanley Spencer in Focus, an exhibition that does exactly what it says on the tin. Here is the essence of this artist’s work, from canvases radiating a personal spiritual connection to sensitive pencil portraits and scenes embellished with humour and colour. Celebrating the broad range of styles and compositions, the exhibition is testament to a man of prolific output and independent thinking.
Spencer’s aim was for viewers to read his art, and the first piece on display, a self-portrait, entices the onlooker to analyse the 32-year-old’s reflective mood during a period when he was drawing up plans for a scheme to record his First World War experiences. Nearby, Roy is one of his most evocative sketches, revealing a sensitivity way beyond the artist’s youth. Although the subject, a young boy peering over the back of a church pew, is a rear view, personality and intent are so well identified via posture and clothing, the absence of facial features is immaterial.
Among other memorable works are the last supper, the biblical event transported to a local village malthouse, and Eric Williams MC, an RAF hero whose portrait shows mastery in capturing expression and a fascination for textural detail and patterns. Meanwhile, upstairs, compelling pencil portraits are accompanied by footage of the artist discussing his upbringing and work.
Spencer stated, ‘I like my own life so much that I would like to cover every empty space on a wall with it.’ This major retrospective is a tribute to that declaration by a man whose passion for his ‘heavenly village’ lives on through his paintings.
Until 25 March at the Stanley Spencer Gallery, High Street, Cookham, Berkshire: 01628-531092; www.stanleyspencer.org.uk
