12 February 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
u TOP Hilda Carline Self-Portrait, 1923, oil on
canvas, 291/2 3 223/4in (75 3 58cm). This strong,
confident self-portrait was painted a year into her
engagement with Spenceru Stanley Spencer Portrait of Patricia Preece, 1933, oil
on canvas, 33 3 211/4in (84 3 74cm), painted four years
after they had first metu OPPOSITE Stanley Spencer, Self-Portrait, 1923, oil on
canvas, 20 3 16in (51 3 40.5cm)STANLEY SPENCER GALLERY
16 High Street,
Cookham,
Berkshire SL6 9SJ
☎ 01628 531092
http://www.stanleyspencer.org.ukThe Stanley Spencer Gallery, which is housed in a
Wesleyan chapel in Cookham High Street, opened in
1962 and is dedicated to the life and work of Stanley
Spencer. The artist was born in Cookham and spent
most of his life in the village, which was an endless
source of inspiration to him. The current exhibition,
Love, Art, Loss focuses on the artist’s two wives, Hilda
Carline and Patricia Preece and the often-complicated
relationship he had with them. Spencer was married
to Carline when he met Preece in 1928, eventually
divorcing Hilda and marrying Patricia even though
she was living with her lover – the artist, Dorothy
Hepworth, at the time.
Throughout this period, Spencer continued to
paint both women with a raw hyper-realism and
intimacy that shocked many of his contemporaries.
Commenting on the show, curator Amanda Bradley
explains: ‘Spencer had wanted two wives, the spiritual
support from Hilda and carefree excitement from
Patricia, but effectively ended up with none. Spencer’s
aching sense of loss and confusion is evident in his
unique evocation of the frailty of human condition
that was seminal to the development of Modern British
Art, without whom Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and
Grayson Perry would not be as we know them today.’
Love, Art, Loss: The Wives of Stanley Spencer can be
seen at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham until
the autumn 2021. Only ten people are allowed into the
gallery at any one time. For more information and to
book tickets, visit http://www.stanleyspencer.org.uk
Love, Art, Loss:
The Wives of Stanley Spencer