Stanley Spencer

Inspired by spirituality, desire, and the human experience, Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), reimagined historic Christian iconography to transform the Berkshire village of Cookham into a ‘village of heaven’. With a raw emotional intensity, Spencer masterfully crafted multi-figure compositions that translated his fellow villagers and neighbours into Gospel counterparts. 

Educated at the Maidenhead Technical Institute and the Slade School of Fine Art, graduating in 1912, Spencer was awarded a CBE, knighted, and elected to the Royal Academy of Art during his career. Spencer’s works have been exhibited in galleries and museums including at Venice Biennale (1938), the Tate (1955, 2001), the Royal Academy (1980), the Smithsonian Institution (1997), the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (2000), York Art Gallery (2009), Somerset House (2013), among others. His paintings and drawings are held in the permanent collections of museums across the UK, including the Imperial War Museum, London, the Burghclere Chapel, Tate, London, and the Stanley Spencer Gallery.