Cathy's Art Diary

Nice small exhibition/display at Tate Britain of work by Stanley Spencer. I’m always happy to see a bit of Stanley and there were works in this display I don’t recall seeing before. I don’t remember this lovely picture of people on the bridge at Cookham from 1920. Evidently one the dog is painted from life all the rest is made up. “Dinner on the Hotel Lawn” was also new to me, a wonderful mix of guests and maids with a swathe of tablecloth like a sail. However I’m not sure what the show’s purpose was other than a brief introduction to Spencer in which case it was odd to use obscure pictures. How about doing a more focused view of an aspect of his work instead or telling people who are new to his work a bit more about him. Closed 3 January 2022

Fabulous online talk organised by the Samuel Courtauld Society looking at Stanley Spencer’s two wives Hilda Carline and Patricia Preece. If you follow this blog you’ll know that Spencer is one my favourite artists and I have always been fascinated by his story as well as his art. He married Hilda in 1925 and was devoted to her continuing to write to her after their divorce and even after she had died. However in 1929 he met Patricia Preece in a tea shop in Cookham and became infatuated with her and they married in 1937. This was all despite the fact she was living with her girlfriend, Dorothy Hepworth and continued to do so. The speakers, Amanda Bradley, who has curated the exhibition at the Stanley Spencer Gallery that this talk Is based on, and the author Carolyn Leder, told this story well and it was particularly interesting to hear anecdotes from Leder of people she had interviewed who were part of the tale such as Elsie, Stanley and Hilda’s maid and Daphne Charlton, Spencer’s...

Thin exhibition at Hastings Contemporary Gallery looking at the effect of the Second World War on the work of three artists.  The show featured Edward Burra, Stanley Spencer and Graham Sutherland but I was disappointed that there was only one Spencer, although is was a good Resurrection picture I’d not seen before. There were some lovely Sutherland’s mainly on loan from Pallant House Gallery and interesting Burra’s.  I thought there could have been a bit more commentary on the effects of the war. What was there was good but again it seemed a bit thin. It seemed to lack an overriding narrative. Still as I said some great pictures. Closes 29 March 2020 Reviews   Times Telegraph

Wonderful documentary shown at ArtFix in Woolwich as part of the Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival. The film had been made a few years ago and followed the two daughters of Stanley Spencer, Unity and Shirin, in old age and interspersed footage of them with an older documentary about their father from the 1970s. The sisters were filmed as Unity moved from her home of 40 years in Clapham to move in with her son John in Wales and at the same time Shirin moved in too. The film told the story of the marriage of Stanley and his wife Hilda Carline and the effect of their divorce and his remarriage to Patricia Preece on the children. The film was very moving and a wonderful study of old age as well as telling their story. It was particularly fascinating to have John Spencer, Unity’s son, at the showing although, as his mother had died since the film was made, he didn’t appear until the end as I’m sure it would have been hard for him to watch. We also had the producers, ...

Engaging talk at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival bringing together two authors who had edited the letters of their artist. Rebecca John began by talking about the letters of Ida John, wife of Augustus John, which she had edited with Michael Holroyd who has written a biography of Augustus. Ida met Augustus when both were studying at the Slade and the letters cover her time there and the years of her marriage. Rebecca read a particularly poignant one which Ida had written to Augustus’s mistress Doriella about how to managed their situation. John Spencer has embarked on editing the letters of Stanley Spencer and was talking here about volume one which take us to the end of the First World War. The book is delightful with lots of illustrations including sketches from the letters. John talked about his memories of living in the house Stanley was born in and how his mother and aunt where initially not allowed to write about the family. He told us how diff...

Excellent exhibition at Somerset House of the Stanley Spencer pictures from the Sandham Memorial Chapel which is currently undergoing renovation. It was fascinating to see these pictures in a different context. I know the chapel well and love the space and the art in but this was a chance to look at the work with a fresh eye. They were beautifully hung in the central gallery of the space in the same arrangement as in the chapel but slightly lower. I was so impressed that instead of putting labels on each work there was a small leaflet to pick up to read more about each picture. This saved much blocking f the works by people reading labels. I loved the fact that the works were put into context by not only including sketches for them but also portraits of Spencer at this time and two war works by Henry Lamb who he was staying with when he devised the scheme and got the commission. I will definitely be making at least one return visit as I find however often you see...