Stanley Spencer Summer Exhibition
Stanley and the First Mrs Spencer
1 April 2010 - 31st October 2010
'You
still are to me the most revealing person of true essential joy I know.'
Despite the vicissitudes of their life together, this remained the core
belief of Stanley Spencer about his first wife Hilda, who retained a key
position in his emotional life. This show marks the 60th anniversary of
her death. As it demonstrates, Hilda Carline was a highly talented artist.
Their life stories are illustrated by the works on display. This differs
from the chronological order in which they were either drawn or painted,
as apart from the portraits, much of the art was created retrospectively
or filtered through Spencer's imagination.
Coming from a remarkable family of painters at the centre of a cultural circle in Hampstead, Hilda produced some fine early self-portraits (see no.13) and trained like her husband at the Slade (no.27). During the period of their courtship and successive engagements, they took walks in Hampstead (nos.28, 29 & 41); Hilda was also fitted for a wedding dress (no.43) and painted a notable portrait of her future husband (no.6), an image that stands comparison with his self-portrait (no.5). After their marriage in Wangford, Suffolk, in 1925 (no.30), they lived initially in Hampstead where Hilda featured several times in his first great resurrection picture (see no.44). Their marriage and life together (nos.8, 31, 40) is wonderfully captured in their nude drawings of each other (nos.25 & 26) and 'Hilda and I at Burghclere' (no.4). The advent of children is also marked by Stanley's sketch of Hilda drawing with an infant at her knee (no.14) and Hilda's tender and fond portrait of Shirin (no.7). Stanley's income was sufficient for them to take on a maid at Burghclere, the cheerful and capable Elsie Munday (nos.35 & 36). There were tensions within the marriage during this period, and disagreements over subjects as varied as religion, the organisation of domestic life and Hilda's gardening at their cottage Chapel View, Burghclere. When Hilda was away for the birth of their second daughter, Unity, Stanley sent her a regular supply of letters on these themes, which could be anything up to a hundred pages long (see no.15). The Spencers were divorced in 1937, a divorce more or less forced on Hilda. Spencer's second marriage, to Patricia Preece, took place four days later, but the couple separated immediately. Spencer, it seems, had hoped to have two wives; he found himself, in practice, with none (see no.20). 'Hilda, Unity and Dolls' (no.11) was painted a few months after the divorce; twenty years later Unity reversed the process by painting her father's portrait (no.37).
The presence of Hilda, however, dominated much of his work for the rest of his life. He seems to have found it easier to commemorate the relationship in paint than to live it in everyday life. 'The Farm Gate' (no.3), an invented scene marrying his passion for Cookham with his adoration of Hilda, was taken from a 'Scrapbook' drawing (no.34). Spencer presented the picture to the Royal Academy of Arts as his Diploma Painting, having resigned from that institution fifteen years earlier (see no.2). The period of the Second World War (nos.32 & 33) and his unfulfilled wish for re-marriage to Hilda (no.42) are followed by a study for 'The Apotheosis of Hilda' (no.45), his final celebration of his feelings for her. The picture was planned as the huge altarpiece of the Hilda Memorial Chapel in his projected 'Church-House' (see no.1). Stanley's love for Hilda was perhaps best expressed in practical terms after their divorce and during the period of ill health leading to her death in 1950. He continued writing to Hilda until his own death in 1959.
We are very grateful indeed to Leeds Museums and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery), the Royal Academy of Arts, London, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, and those private collectors who have lent so generously to this exhibition. We also wish to thank those who continue to support the gallery whether by gift or long-term loan.
Carolyn Leder
All the works in the exhibition are by Sir Stanley Spencer, RA (1891-1959), except for nos.6, 7, 13 & 25 by Hilda Carline (1889-1950) and no.37 by Unity Spencer.
1 Sarah Tubb and the Heavenly Visitors, 1933
Oil on canvas
In 1910 the tail of Halley's Comet created an exceptional sunset which
so frightened 'Granny' Tubb that she feared the end of the world had come
and knelt by her gate in Cookham High Street to pray. Not recalling her
features, Spencer replaced them with those of her daughter Sarah. She
is comforted by heavenly visitors who present her with 'all those things
which she loved'. These include a postcard of Cookham church held by Spencer's
cousin Annie Slack, whose shop, seen in the picture, was in the cottages
now replaced by the Peking Inn. On the left a grocer, depicted with a
gleam of humour and loosely based on Spencer's cousin Willie Hatch, shares
in 'the peaceful atmosphere'. As Spencer explained to his dealer Dudley
Tooth, he disliked 'the idea of alarm' and instead the picture became
'a sort of apotheosis of the old lady'.
The picture was designed for Spencer's projected 'Church House', planned
as a sequel to the Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere (now National Trust),
which commemorates his military service in the First World War. The 'Church
House' was to express his feelings on love and celebrate Cookham as a
village in heaven. It was
never built, but he produced ever-expanding schemes of pictures for it
from 1932 until his death in 1959. 'Sarah Tubb' was probably intended
for a Pentecost series in which angels and saints visit Cookham performing
various acts of benevolence; this was subsumed into the overall theme
of the 'Last Day' (a variation on the 'Last Judgement', the general resurrection
of the dead at the second coming of Christ). Thus the old woman is seen
in her newly resurrected state in a Cookham transformed into heaven.
Barbara Karmel Bequest, 1995
2 The Scarecrow, Cookham, 1934
Oil on canvas
In 1935 the Royal Academy's hanging committee rejected two of Spencer's
more controversial pictures for the Summer Exhibition, but hung three
works, including this painting. His consequent resignation as an ARA sparked
a controversy in the press, not least in reviewing the Royal Academy's
attitude to contemporary art. The artist did not rejoin the Royal Academy
until 1950 when he was elected RA (see 'The Farm Gate', no.3). The scarecrow
stood in a plot next to 'Rowborough', with a view down to the village.
Spencer recalled, 'Left and deserted as it was it seemed daily to become
more a part of its surroundings…In the evening he faded into the
gloaming like a Cheshire cat.'
Lent by a private collector
3 The Farm Gate, 1950
Oil on canvas
Ovey's Farm, named after 18th century farmer Richard Ovey, was important
to Spencer from boyhood. In 1917, he wrote with poetic intensity to Desmond
Chute of waking at dawn to see white doves banking and wheeling over the
farm before alighting on the long red roof to bask in the sun (letter,
Stanley Spencer Gallery collection). It was appropriate he chose this
scene of Stanley and Hilda ushering cows through the farm gate to present
to the Royal Academy of Arts as his Diploma Painting in November 1950,
the month of Hilda's death, so that both Cookham and Hilda are represented
in the Academy's collection. This marked Spencer's return to the RA after
his dramatic resignation as an ARA in 1935 (see 'The Scarecrow', no.2).
The picture, with its high viewpoint, almost as if seen from the window
of Spencer's boyhood bedroom in Fernlea opposite the farm, was taken from
an earlier Scrapbook drawing (no.34), though it offers further details
of items such as clothing.
Lent by the Royal Academy of Arts, London
4 Hilda and I at Burghclere, 1955
Oil on canvas
The Spencers lived at Burghclere, Hampshire, from 1927-1932 while Stanley
painted his First World War murals in the Sandham Memorial Chapel. The
picture depicts the interior of Chapel View, the cottage built for them
by Mr and Mrs Behrend, the chapel's donors. Painted twenty-five years
later (and five years after Hilda's death), the picture is rare in showing
the entire Spencer family, seen here at a moment of deeply-felt domestic
harmony. Hilda sits with the infant Unity in her lap, while Stanley carries
a tin bath to be used before the fire. The cat is attracted by the movement
of the rolled-up rug tugged along by their elder daughter Shirin. Baby
garments hang on the back of Hilda's chair. Spencer referred to the subject
as 'Bathing babies at Chapel View'. The picture is a magnificent example
of his late style, showing every detail of pattern and texture. Based
on a small drawing of c1935 and then a detailed Scrapbook drawing of c1939-43
(Leder 50), the picture was intended for the projected Hilda Memorial
Chapel in the 'Church House'.
Lent by a private collector
5 Self-Portrait, 1923
Oil on canvas
In his fine series of self-portrait drawings and paintings, from c1913
until his death in 1959, Spencer was honest and uncompromising in recording
the changes in his features as well as his feelings about himself. In
addition to the formal self-portraits, he appears many times in his subject
pictures as a small, boyish figure depicted in generalised terms, along
with people who played a role in his real or imaginative life. This is
the second of his painted self-portraits, which sold for 20 guineas in
his highly successful, first one-man exhibition at the Goupil Gallery
in 1927. Spencer had painted it at 10 Hill Street, Poole, Dorset, when
he was staying with his friend and fellow-artist Henry Lamb. It was here
that Mary and Louis Behrend saw Spencer's designs for a chapel based on
his experiences in the RAMC and infantry during the First World War. In
an act of generous and inspired patronage, the Behrends decided to build
a chapel at Burghclere to realise his scheme.
Painted with a restricted palette, but in rich, warm colours, he used
the broad brushstrokes and simplified areas of colour characteristic of
Post-Impressionism, in contrast to his later, tightly detailed style.
He wrote to his first wife, Hilda, '…I am doing a self-portrait,
which will not be any good, I am afraid, as I have my head in such a position
as hardly to be able to see what I am painting.' He considered the work
incomplete. At the age of 32, his still noticeably youthful appearance
is mirrored in Hilda's only surviving oil portrait of him (no.6) and in
contemporary photographs.
Barbara Karmel Bequest, 1995
6 Hilda Carline: Portrait of Stanley Spencer, 1923
Oil on canvas
'They are perfectly gorgeous kind of hatless "farmers' boys",
with red cheeks, blue eyes and thick long black hair,…who suddenly
come out with clever remarks about Bach…Stanley Spencer ought to
be on the "movies"; he has such an expressive face.' So wrote
Kate Foster, a member of the Carline circle, of Stanley and Gilbert Spencer
in her diary in 1922. Stanley had met Hilda Carline in 1919, at a dinner
in the Carline family house at 47 Downshire Hill, Hampstead and later
remembered, 'As she came round to me…and the rest of us with the
soup, I thought how extraordinary she looked…I could feel my real
self in that extraordinary person…I felt a longing for her, as at
once I saw a life with her.' He not only fell in love with Hilda, but
became a lifelong admirer of her art, purchasing a picture of sheep soon
after they met, since 'there is something heavenly in it'. This portrait
by Hilda of her future husband is her only oil of him to survive. Similar
in pose and background to his 'Self-Portrait' (no.5), it makes for an
interesting comparison between them as artists, as with their Bosnian
landscapes the previous year and their portraits of Elsie, the maid, in
1929 when they set up easels side by side.
Lent by a private collector
7 Hilda Carline: Portrait of Shirin Spencer, c1930/1
Oil on canvas
At around the time of Stanley's similarly sized 'Portrait Sketch' of Shirin
on panel, Hilda painted this sensitive and sympathetic portrait of her
elder daughter at Chapel View, Burghclere. Stanley expounded his views
on hair in a contemporary letter to Hilda, 'I would so love to do a drawing
of you with your hair down; not because I think it suits you, although
it gives you one special look I love, but because it would be such fun
to do, & because the drawing I did of Evelyn Ballard gave me a feeling
of how marvellous long hair was. I wish Shireen [sic ] could grow hers
long again now…It gives one a wonderful feeling of infiniteness &
endlessness…' He was granted his wish in 1947, when he produced a
masterly study of Shirin as a young adult, with calligraphically drawn
hair waving down to the nape of her neck.
Lent by a private collector
8 Domestic Scenes: At the Chest of Drawers, 1936
Oil on canvas
One of the 'Domestic Scenes' series of 1935-6, painted after his resignation
from the Royal Academy (see 'The Scarecrow', no.2). Deliberately less
controversial, the 'Domestic Scenes' were exhibited with some critical
and commercial success in his one-man exhibition at Tooth's in 1936. The
series featured an idealised version of married life with his first wife
Hilda, as well as his childhood. As he wrote, 'I love painting this kind
of picture, and I shall be very sad to part with any of them.' This is
linked to the 'Marriage at Cana' series for the 'Church House' (see no.1).
Two guests, Stanley and Hilda, their figures interlocked in a shallow
space, choose clothes to wear to the wedding feast. Collars spill out
of a drawer and a hot water bottle nestles in the unmade bed. Ironically
Spencer decided to celebrate the joys of marriage at a time his own actions
were leading to his divorce. He presented himself as a diminutive man
dominated by an exaggeratedly large woman, a recurring theme at the time.
Lent by a private collector
9 View from Cookham Bridge, 1936
Oil on canvas
Painted many years before 'Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta' (no.10),
but from a similarly elevated viewpoint, Spencer showed the view from
the other side of the bridge, this time as far as the horizon, including
Holy Trinity church and Turk's boatyard, which had already featured in
major works. As in all Spencer's best landscapes, this quintessential
summer view of the riverside at Cookham is provided with an abundance
of naturalistic detail. It is also strongly suggestive of people and their
activities, although no figures actually appear. Frederick Turk, the Queen's
Swan Master, whose family had been on the river for about 200 years, hired
out boats such as the punts in the foreground; the boathouse burnt down
some years ago.
Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated
to the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham, 2003
10 Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta, 1952-9
Oil and pencil on canvas
Spencer did not live to complete this last major work, which he planned
as the central picture in the river aisle of his 'Church House'. In a
natural link between Cookham and religion, Christ preaches at the regatta
the artist recalled from his boyhood. Sitting in the centre in a basket
chair in the old horse ferry barge, by the Ferry Hotel near Cookham Bridge,
Christ preaches to the assembled villagers. The crowd sport the Chinese
lanterns which illuminated the boats in the evening. Class distinctions
between the people in boats and those who had to make do on the bank are
nicely maintained. The luxury of a punt, unknown in the Spencer family,
seemed to the artist 'an unattainable Eden'. Spencer wrote of the contrast
between Christ and 'the stalwart, prosperous, white-trousered proprietor
of the Hotel' surveying the profitable scene from his lawn. In centre
foreground, Mr Brooks the ferryman brandishes an impressive array of boating
equipment, though as Spencer noted, the figure was inspired by Mr Turk,
of Turk's boatyard, 'leaning on a great armful of oars, etc.' Sixty chalk
drawings made in 1952 form the basis of the present picture, which displays
Spencer's skill in composing complex figure subjects. The studies were
transferred to canvas to create an outline drawing of great beauty. As
the partially completed picture shows, Spencer painted one area before
starting the next. He worked with his usual small brushes, his nose almost
touching the paint.
Spencer grew up in the golden age of the Thames regatta, when the river
became not just a route for commerce, but a place of entertainment and
leisure. Rowing and other skills, previously the province of paid watermen,
became popular pastimes for amateurs. Attracting 10,000 people at its
peak, the regatta at Cookham followed an established pattern, with races
followed by a concert and fireworks. As in Spencer's Regatta series, fashion
dictated that gentlemen wore white trousers, striped flannel coats and
straw hats, and ladies elaborate hats and full-length dresses.
Lent by a private collector
11 Hilda, Unity and Dolls, 1937
Oil on canvas
One of the most deeply felt of Spencer's double portraits, this was painted
during a ten-day August stay with the Carline family at 17 Pond Street,
Hampstead, where Hilda and their seven-year-old daughter Unity were living.
Stanley and Hilda were divorced in May, and there followed the debacle
of his second marriage to Patricia Preece. It is a tribute to the Carline's
feelings for him that he was able to stay with them so soon afterwards.
Spencer hoped to rekindle his relationship with Hilda, even suggesting
they revisit Wangford in Suffolk, to stay in the same cottage as on their
honeymoon in 1925 (see no.30). Hilda sensibly refused, and he went to
Wangford alone. It was on his return that he painted this compelling portrait.
Full of thought, the adult looks to one side, avoiding the portraitist's
gaze, while the child stares at the viewer intently. The eyeless dolls
(who had simply lost their eyes in the course of events) form a lifeless
counterpart to the powerful psychological presence of the two sitters.
In 2010 Unity Spencer explained that they were favourite dolls, 'Mary'
behind 'Golden Slumbers Sonia Rose'. At the same time, Spencer painted
'Helter Skelter, Hampstead Heath', revisiting the scene by the Vale Hotel
where he and Hilda had spent the joyous period of their early marriage.
Lent by Leeds Museums and Art Galleries (City Art Gallery)
12 Portrait of Mr and Mrs Baggett, 1956-7
Oil on canvas
Commissioned as a single portrait of either sitter, Spencer chose instead
to paint them together with startling immediacy in their Highgate dining
room (90A Highgate High Street), with its view of the graveyard and Highgate
School Chapel. The graveyard was used by Highgate Anglicans until the
erection of a parish church in the early nineteenth century. The view
is clearly recognisable today. Spencer rejected a patterned dress for
Mrs Baggett, as the time taken to paint it would increase the cost of
the picture; a direct commission, without a dealer's fee, the double portrait
cost 250 guineas. He began on the canvas by lightly drawing in the composition
in charcoal. As an RA, Spencer exhibited the picture at the Royal Academy's
Summer Exhibition, 1957.
Bequeathed by Mrs M K Baggett, 1993
13 Hilda Carline: Self-Portrait, c1919
Pencil
Hilda produced a series of accomplished self-portrait drawings and occasional
watercolours from c1908, of which this is a good example. She was not
to paint herself in oils until 1923. With its careful scrutiny, close
to a mirror, this drawing offers an accurate rendition of her serious
and thoughtful character. In 1919, Hilda left the Land Army, enrolled
for part-time study at the Slade and, soon after her 30th birthday, met
Stanley Spencer, an event that was to have momentous consequences for
both of them.
Lent by a private collector
14 Hilda Drawing, c1926/30
Pencil
With a confidently assured and smoothly flowing line, Spencer sketched
Hilda reclining, while simultaneously drawing with one hand and guarding
an infant with the other. The closeness between the two figures is a tribute
to the intimate bond between mother and child. It is also inevitably symbolic
of Hilda's dual role as both parent and artist.
Lent by a private collector
15 Page from a previously unpublished, illustrated letter, from Stanley
Spencer to Hilda
Spencer's 'Love Letters' 1950 and 'The Apotheosis of Hilda' (see no.45)
celebrate the primacy of letters in his relationship with Hilda. Their
considerable correspondence began before they married and continued until
Hilda's death in 1950, after which Stanley continued writing to her until
his own death nine years later. The text of this particular letter emphasises
the care he took in working out his compositions and contains a sketch
of Stanley and Hilda sitting in some 'very long grass'. Not all the letters
were posted; some were undelivered and read aloud to each other. They
were a vehicle for wide-ranging discussion, from constant analysis of
their feelings, to debates on the nature of art and religion. In 1924,
Stanley wrote, 'I often wish that though we see each other every day we
could nevertheless continue to write to each other…I wish we could
both celebrate and chronicle every second of each others life. I dont
feel this is a letter, it is not it is a wonderful spiritual journey that
we are both taking together.'
Lent by a private collector
16 Portrait of Eric Williams, MC, 1954
Oil on canvas
At this late stage in his career Spencer was in demand as a portraitist.
Eric Williams was famous for his wartime exploits in the RAF when as a
prisoner of war in the notorious Stalag Luft 3 he planned a daring escape,
digging a tunnel and using a vaulting horse to cover the debris in the
exercise yard. This led to the so-called 'Wooden Horse' escape, which
featured in his book and a film of the same name. The original commission
was for a pencil sketch but Spencer was dissatisfied with it, and for
the same fee, painted this oil instead. It took about a fortnight: most
time was spent on the stitches of the sitter's sweater.
Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated
to the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham, 2007
17 The Last Supper, 1920
Oil on canvas
The best known of the splendid series of religious pictures Spencer painted
during his year's stay with the Slessers, it was bought by them for £150
and installed in their private chapel in the boat-house. Christ sits before
the wall of the grain bin in a Cookham malt-house, while John rests against
him at the dramatic moment of the breaking of the bread, when Jesus said,
'Take, eat; this is my body'. The other disciples are ranged along the
sides of a plain table, their limbs forming a strongly marked pattern.
In the biblical account, Jesus instituted the Eucharist in an upper room
in Jerusalem during his final meal with his disciples. Spencer was pleased
with the feeling of seclusion surrounding the sacred event and the unusual
quality of light from the low window. The uncluttered architectural setting
and substantial rounded figures are clearly reminiscent of Giotto (c1267-1337),
one of his favourite painters, whose work he studied in a sixpenny Gowans
& Gray volume and in Ruskin's 'Giotto and his Works in Padua'.
Acquired by public subscription, 1962
18 Roy, c1907
Pen and ink
Drawn before he entered the Slade, Spencer used pen and ink, a favourite
medium for his early drawings. Born in Cookham in 1902, Roy Lacey is thought
to be a son of the Laceys who kept the boatyard by the bridge. The boatyard
was sold to Turk in 1910 (see no.9). Roy leans over the back of a pew
in the village church of Holy Trinity; with his retentive visual memory
it was not unknown for Spencer to return to a motif years later, so that
'In Church', 1958, contains a similar figure.
Acquired with assistance from the MGC/V & A Purchase Grant Fund
and the NACF (now The Art Fund), 1993
19 Domestic Scenes: Neighbours, 1936
Oil on canvas
This is one of nine pictures in the 'Domestic Scenes' series of 1935-6,
which concentrated on his childhood and marriage to his first wife Hilda
Carline; the 'Domestic Scenes' were also a part of the 'Marriage at Cana'
section of the 'Church House'. Painted from a characteristically high
viewpoint, it commemorates the occasions when his elder sister Annie exchanged
gifts with her cousin over the hedge at 'Fernlea'. In this case she receives
tulips from the garden at 'Belmont' (on the left). Spencer commented on
the picture to his dealer Dudley Tooth, 'It shows the privet hedge which
divided our garden from the cousins' next door. Beyond the wall is the
orchard. I do not remember much in the way of flowers in the garden but
there were plenty in the next door garden, the family being a family of
girls.' The painting was taken from a squared-up illustration for April
in the Chatto & Windus Almanack (see no.39).
Barbara Karmel Bequest, 1995
20 The Beatitudes of Love: Contemplation, 1938
Oil on canvas
At a time of financial difficulty and personal isolation, after a divorce
followed by the immediate failure of his second marriage, Spencer embarked
on 'The Beatitudes of Love'; he withdrew into the realm of his pictures
to produce a series depicting couples ('husbands and wives') that he hoped
to place in cubicles in his projected 'Church House'. An artist firmly
rooted in his response to places, he worked instead entirely from imagination,
using uncharacteristically plain backgrounds to emphasise the figures,
which are amongst the most radically distorted in his oeuvre. Spencer
was aware of this, but explained in a later letter, '…I love them
from within outwards and whatever that outward appearance may be it is
an exquisite reminder of what is loved within, no matter what that exterior
appearance may be.' The couple are united by the enfolding rhythm of three
hands, whereas the fourth assumes a disturbingly claw-like form, and the
woman's profile is claustrophobically inseparable from the head and huge
ear of the man behind. In this picture, he noted, 'the figures are engaged
in contemplation of each other, as is expressed by their rapt gaze, as
though they would never stop looking.'
Bequeathed by Sir Frederic Hooper, 1963
21 Cookham from Englefield, 1948
Oil on canvas
The solicitor Gerard Shiel (1884-1974) took a lease on Englefield House
in 1940 and moved there permanently after the war. He formed a collection
of Spencer's work which included five commissioned paintings of his house
and garden. The men established another bond through their memories of
service in Salonika during the First World War, in which Shiel was awarded
the MC. He was later a Founder Member and Chairman of the Trustees of
the Stanley Spencer Gallery, giving it 'Sunbathers at Odney' on its opening
in 1962, as well as further works.
Lent by a private collector
22 Englefield House, Cookham, 1951
Oil on canvas
Spencer noted that he painted this third Englefield picture in the afternoons
and evenings of July and August 1951. His attention to detail made progress
inevitably slow, so that for instance in his picture of 'The Brew House'
1957, apple blossom, wisteria and roses appear to bloom simultaneously.
Lent by a private collector
23 Wisteria at Englefield, 1954
Oil on canvas
Spencer spent five weeks on this fourth picture in the series, with its
magnificent cascade of chestnut, wisteria and ceanothus, for which his
fee was £300 (about twice his pre-war rate). The Englefield works
are among his most successfully realised, painstakingly realistic late
landscapes.
Lent by a private collector
24 Lilac and Clematis at Englefield, 1955
Oil on canvas
Originally added to the house as a billiard room, this part of the building
became the picture gallery in which Gerard Shiel hung his Spencer collection,
which was largely devoted to landscapes. In this June painting, he particularly
wished the artist to emphasise the colour of the bricks, clematis and
rock garden.
Lent by a private collector
25 Hilda Carline: Stanley nude, 1931
Pencil
Hilda sometimes bore the brunt of criticism from Stanley, but in 1930
he wrote, 'I wish you could see me as well as I see you duckie because
I am sure I am very nice to look at. I feel my shape physically being
such a complementary shape to yours somehow reveals to me something about
our spiritual complementariness.' Fifteen days after Hilda's death, twenty
years later, he noted that he re-read the letter. In lighter vein, Stanley
wrote to Hilda in the summer of 1931, 'I have become a man of 40 since
you have been away and I feel if there is any change in me it is nicer
…Is there any way I could make myself more attractive to you. What
about these kind of whiskers. It would be very difficult to look the pa
and ma look like our pa's and ma's looked. …I remember I rather loved
it when you were 40…' At about this time, Hilda considered painting
a double portrait of them both and in June 1931, she wrote of an engaging
plan to 'paint you, surrounded by bursting flowers, crouching down in
somewhat the position you were in in that absurd photograph of you in
the hedge…' In April she had noted that, 'there is not the same brightness
in the house when you are not here.'
Lent by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
26 Hilda nude, 1931
Pencil
In 1931, the Spencers had been married for six years and were living at
Chapel View, Burghclere, as Stanley moved towards completion of his cycle
of paintings in the Sandham Memorial Chapel. These sensitively handled
portrait drawings depict a time of tenderness, although their frequent
and copious correspondence bears witness to the strains within their relationship.
Yet Stanley could also acknowledge her crucial role in his life, writing
in July 1930, 'There are a lot of art developments in me that should be
put to your credit, for instance I become most fertile in ideas when I
am thinking about you. My really happiest feelings are when I feel I am
with you…'
Lent by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Nos.27-36: Scrapbook Drawings from the Astor Collection
In 1939 Spencer began a series of pencil drawings in children's scrapbooks
which he kept for reference for the rest of his career. He regarded the
drawings as independent compositions, but he also made a number of paintings
from them. The subjects are largely imaginative re-creations of events
in his private life, in which he frequently appears. He hoped they would
provide material for a 'Last Day' series in his 'Church House'. Spencer
wrote of the drawings: 'In each of these drawings I approach heaven through
what I find on earth…All ordinary acts such as the sewing on of a
button are religious things and a part of perfection…'
Lent by a private collector
27 Life Room, Slade
Volume 2, 1943-4 (Leder 6)
From 1908-12, Spencer was at the Slade, the leading art school of the
day, where he was one of the most notable students in a talented generation,
winning a scholarship to cover the fees and two major prizes. He emerged
as a young artist with a growing reputation. The formidable Professor
Tonks trained Slade students to draw from the 'antique' and from 'life'.
His emphasis on the use of pencil for drawing and on the importance of
form clarified by light and shadow rather than colour, made a lasting
impression on Spencer, many of whose later portrait drawings display a
mastery of academic procedure and an unmistakable Slade character. Hilda
also attended the Slade, starting five years as a part-time student in
1919, the year she met Stanley; she had earlier studied at Percyval Tudor-Hart's
School of Painting in Hampstead.
28 Me and Hilda, Downshire Hill
Volume 2, 1943-4 (Leder 74)
In Volume 2, Spencer commented on works which include this drawing, 'Me
and Hilda, Pilgrim's Lane' (no.29) and 'Me and Hilda, East Heath Road'
(see no.41): 'To me the Elsie series & the late in book you &
me series of four are very important items in the book.' The 'you &
me' drawings were studies for pictures in his Hilda 'chapel' in the 'Church
House'. From this drawing he commenced an unfinished painting, which hung
on his wall at Cookham until his death, writing to Hilda (who had died
in 1950) on 3 May 1959, 'Dear duckie, I am so much wanting to write to
you as always. I am beginning the painting of you & I returning to
47, Downshire Hill from a walk on the Heath.' Behind them is the church
of St John and the two roads leading to Hampstead Heath, one of the most
attractive townscapes in Hampstead. Stanley and Hilda are almost at the
front gate of 47 Downshire Hill, the home of the Carline family for many
years. Hilda's features are distorted, but in other drawings she is shown
more correctly as a handsome woman.
29 Me and Hilda, Pilgrim's Lane
Volume 2, 1943-4 (Leder 75)
Pilgrim's Lane runs parallel with Downshire Hill, Hampstead, where Spencer
courted Hilda (see no.28). Writing at this time, in October 1922, Stanley,
as always, analysed the bond between them, 'It may seem very strange that
it should be so but between you & me there is a relationship that
to me is perfect. …I hate to feel that I have caused you suffering.
…The last part of your letter was beautiful; you have had a wonderful
effect on me too Hilda: you have put a new song in my mouth, oh, I must
not go on. Would you like me to lend you my Oddysy [sic]? You might have
time to read it.' Apart from Stanley, Hilda is the person seen most frequently
in the drawings, which were made after their divorce in 1937.
30 Mr L & Kathleen. The Hill, Wangford
Volume 2, 1943-4 (Leder 97)
On 23 February 1925, Stanley and Hilda were married in Wangford, near
Southwold, Suffolk, and spent their honeymoon at 'The Hill', Mrs Lambert's
cottage. Hilda had worked with the Women's Land Army at Wangford during
the First World War. Later, they each independently re-visited the cottage.
The figures are presumably Mr Lambert and his daughter. Spencer's picture
'Gardening' 1945 was taken from this drawing.
31 Family Group
Volume 1, 1939-43 (Leder 19)
A protective rhythm encircles the family, as with maternal tenderness
Hilda guides a young daughter to pat the dog, held on a lead by Stanley.
32 The Woolshop
Volume 1, 1939-43 (Leder 18)
Spencer spent much of 1939 in Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, with the
painters George and Daphne Charlton, boarding at the White Hart Inn. George
was a lecturer at the Slade, where Daphne had been one of his students.
Stanley and the exuberant Daphne had an affair during this period. Spencer
purchased the scrapbooks in Gloucestershire and a number of the drawings
commemorate his life there. The painting of 'The Woolshop' 1939 was taken
from this drawing, which shows Spencer and Daphne Charlton in Stonehouse,
near Leonard Stanley, checking wool against her sweater. As Daphne explained
to the present writer, her sister-in-law had sent her a yellow jersey,
so Daphne, George and Stanley went to buy wool to make matching socks.
She additionally commented that the woman's face is a composite of Daphne
and Hilda, Spencer telling Daphne, 'you mustn't mind if I put a bit of
Hilda in'.
33 Old Couple
Volume I, 1939-43 (Leder 10)
The drawing was used for the left half of Spencer's picture 'Village Life,
Gloucestershire', 1940, which he intended for his 'Church House' and painted
in Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, during his sojourn there with George
and Daphne Charlton. Daphne was his mistress for a time. He wrote of the
drawing: '…an old couple witnessing the coming of God in the sky
while they & a grand child were in their garden taking in the clothes.'
The painting conforms to his 'Last Day' scheme in which places significant
for him were to be transmuted into a type of 'Heaven on earth'. The right-hand
side of the picture was taken from another Scrapbook drawing (Leder 13),
which features Stanley, Daphne and Hilda (although the latter never went
to Leonard Stanley). In a later scrapbook, Stanley wrote to Hilda about
Daphne, '…in this Scrapbook 1 she comes in the Leonard Stanley scenes
but for the one you gatecrash.' Despite their divorce, Hilda remained
central to his vision.
34 The Farm Gate, 16 June 1946
Volume 4 (Leder 136a)
'The Farm Gate' 1950 (no.3), which Spencer presented to the Royal Academy
as his Diploma picture, follows the squared-up drawing closely: Hilda
and a youthful Stanley open the gate to let the cows into Ovey's Farm,
which he could see from the bedroom window in his boyhood home 'Fernlea',
just across Cookham High Street. Since it ceased to be a working farm
four years before Stanley met Hilda, this is an invented scene, linking
a place and person especially meaningful to him.
35 Drawing Elsie
Volume 2, 1943-4 (Leder 57)
'When she was working for me at Burghclere our life was as light as the
air.' In 1928 Elsie Munday came to Burghclere, the setting for this drawing,
to work as a maid for the Spencers. She is shown in a number of drawings,
cheerfully engaged in domestic tasks. Spencer described her life as: 'Cinemas
motorbikes boys & local socials & calling on friends & going
off on jaunts & shopping & sending presents to innumerable baby
nephews & nieces & quick & not prolonged chats to the tradesmen
& then ironing & washing & picking beans & pulling off
brussells sprouts & yet judicious & reflective in it all. The
sound in the morning below my window of the wood being demolished to bits
for the kitchen & dining room fires. Much singing of common love songs.'
This drawing (a larger, more detailed version of a tiny sketch in Volume
1) was designed for his projected 'Church House', as a panel in the 'Servants
Hall' scheme, which later became the Elsie 'chapel'.
36 Taking in Washing, Elsie
Volume 2, 1943-4 (Leder 61a)
As Elsie collects stockings, a Holy Ghost figure holds a basket of pegs
and Stanley kneels by the fence with his sketchbook. In 1941 he had already
described how he was 'interested in the way she took stockings off the
line, she quickly took several of the feet of the stockings into her hand,
which caused them to become fan-shaped and then unpegged them so that
they flopped over her arms & shoulders like dead leaves…'. He
discussed his feelings for Elsie in the Scrapbooks: 'Although [she] was
"just" a servant we had & a very good one, she was something
that has been a great part of my thought. If there was any affection it
was never made known...Both loved our work & life & could therefore
sincerely sympathize & compare notes. If there was a family outing
all would be well if left to her to arrange…'.
37 Unity Spencer: Portrait of Stanley Spencer, 1957
Oil on canvas
As an adult (see 'Hilda, Unity and Dolls', no.11), the artist Unity Spencer
was able to turn the tables by painting this portrait of her father in
'Cliveden View'. He had asked what she would like to do, suggesting 'a
Kopf' (head) as he wished to do some reading. Her view includes the rolled-up
canvas of 'Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta' (no.10) on which he was
then working. Spencer was also painting his double portrait of Mr and
Mrs Baggett (no.12), who decided to purchase this portrait too.
Bequeathed by Mrs M K Baggett, 1993
Nos. 38, 39, 43 & 44: Chatto & Windus Almanack, 1927
In 1926 Chatto & Windus commissioned Spencer to produce illustrations
on domestic and pastoral themes for an Almanack. The artist's peaceful,
lyrical evocation of the seasons is marked by scenes from his childhood,
life with friends in London and marriage to Hilda Carline. He was paid
£30 for the drawings. It was the only book he illustrated and received
favourable reviews: 'The Observer' described the drawings as 'impish and
attractive…the smooth pages made one's pen champ to be at them.'
Spencer made a number of paintings from the illustrations, such as 'Neighbours',
1936 (no.19).
38 Study for the Month of September: Walnut Bashing, 1926
Pen and ink, with pencil
In this preliminary sketch, boys gather walnuts from the large tree at
the end of the 'Fernlea' garden. The Spencer boys sometimes climbed onto
a neighbour's 'tin sheds' to do so, much to his annoyance.
Presented by the Farquharson Charity and the Friends of the Stanley
Spencer Gallery, 1965
39 Study for the Month of April: Neighbours, 1926
Pen and ink, with pencil
This composition underwent considerable alteration when it was adapted
for the first illustration to April in the Chatto & Windus Almanack,
1927. In the Almanack, and in the painting 'Neighbours' 1936 (no.19) which
was taken from it, two of the figures were eliminated and the wall was
replaced by a hedge. The scene moves from wintry snow to tulips, and the
trees indicated in pencil in the upper corners were further developed.
Spencer used pen and ink at the request of the publisher. It was a medium
he had employed in his youth, but rarely returned to later. The pen and
ink encouraged him to focus on details and textures such as the besom
and the foliage of the bush in the foreground. The woman on the right
has a fur with tassels derived from one worn by his mother.
Barbara Karmel Bequest, 1995
40 Hilda Sorting Newspapers, c1929
Pencil and wash
Drawn during the Burghclere period, this vivid sketch affords a glimpse
of Hilda in customary pose. She appears in almost identical fashion in
'The Anthracite Stove', 1929, leafing through sheet music. Despite its
title, the drawing is probably a study for the picture, since Hilda sorts
not newspapers, but similar sheet music. Spencer incorporated the image
of his wife in this official commission for posters by the Empire Marketing
Board, the body responsible for colonial trade.
Presented by Mr G G Shiel, 1967
41 Me and Hilda, East Heath Road
Lithograph, 70/75, posthumous limited edition printed by Henry Trivick,
1973
This lithograph by Henry Trivick (inscribed 'Me Greeting Hilda') is taken
from one of Spencer's Scrapbook drawings from the 1940s (Leder 78). East
Heath Road runs beside Hampstead Heath, down from Whitestone Pond to Downshire
Hill, where Hilda Carline lived. It thus formed a regular part of Stanley
and Hilda's Hampstead walks during their courtship (see nos. 28 &
29). Henry Trivick (1908-1982), great grandson of Benjamin West PRA, was
a friend of Spencer for over twenty years. He was a visiting instructor
at the Regent Street Polytechnic where he taught Spencer the art of lithography
(see no.42).
Purchased from Henry Trivick, before 1982
42 The Marriage at Cana, 1953
Lithograph, 1/75, posthumous limited edition printed by Henry Trivick
on the opening of the Stanley Spencer Gallery, 1962
This is related to the Marriage at Cana series for Spencer's 'Church House'.
The New Testament story of Christ's first miracle (the turning of water
into wine at a wedding feast) is transposed into personal terms: Stanley
and Hilda as bride and bridegroom, with their wedding cake. Conceived
three years after Hilda's death, it referred to their actual wedding,
as well as the unrealised re-marriage he had hoped for after their divorce.
The painting 'The Marriage at Cana: Bride and Bridegroom', 1953, is close
to the lithograph. Spencer made only three lithographs, all under the
guidance of Henry Trivick. Here Spencer followed Trivick's advice: having
made a mistake in drawing with litho chalks onto the plate, he turned
the plate upside down to start again. His first attempt, a rear view of
Hilda, is visible under Stanley's right leg.
Presented by Mrs G A Worsley, 1969
43 The Month of March: Fitting Dress on Table, 1926
Pen and ink
'Fitting dress on table' was drawn as the first illustration for March.
In two written lists of the Chatto & Windus subjects, Spencer described
this scene as 'Fitting dress on table' and 'Trying on dress on table'
(Tate Archive, 733.3.35 and 733.3.73). It is a recollection of Spencer's
first wife Hilda standing on the kitchen table in her family home at 47
Downshire Hill, Hampstead, during the making of her wedding dress. This
flurry of preparation upset Stanley who broke off the engagement, not
for the first time. They were finally married in Wangford parish church
in 1925 (see no.30). At Stanley's request Hilda wore something familiar,
rather than a conventional wedding dress. She appears in pencil outline
in her wedding clothes in his final tribute to her, the enormous canvas
of 'The Apotheosis of Hilda', 1959 (private collection) which sadly was
unfinished at the time of his death (see no.45).
Barbara Karmel Bequest, 1995
44 The Month of July: Smelling a Flower, 1926
Pen and ink
Spencer took this image of Hilda from his large picture 'The Resurrection,
Cookham', 1924-6 (Tate), where she appears as one of the newly resurrected
in Cookham churchyard who emerge in gentle fashion from their graves.
Still standing in her grave, she holds a flower, as 'she wonders about
its scent and with curiosity pushes it against her face.'
Presented by the Friends of the Stanley Spencer Gallery in memory
of Mrs Marjorie Metz, 1983
45 The Apotheosis of Hilda, c1953
Pencil
This drawing is for the upper right-hand section of Spencer's large unfinished
canvas of 'The Apotheosis of Hilda' 1959, his final tribute to her, which
was intended as the altarpiece of the Hilda Memorial Chapel in the 'Church
House'. Hampstead Heath, letters and litter quite naturally dominate the
picture: during their courtship Hilda and Stanley went for long walks
on the Heath and they began their married life in a studio in the Vale
of Health. Hilda is seen with a love letter in the lower left corner of
the drawing. She and Stanley each appear several times in the picture
which is crowded with people, many of whom pick up and read the Spencer
letters. Hundreds of love letters are scattered on the Heath like Bank
Holiday litter: some are written on long sheets, others are whirled around
like leaves. Spencer planned additional pictures for the chapel, including
'Hilda and I at Burghclere (no.4) and three works based on images in this
exhibition (nos. 28, 29 & 41).
Acquired with assistance from Robert Holden Fine Art Dealers, 1997
Catalogue by Carolyn Leder ©2010