Stanley Spencer - ACE088.2

Self-portrait sketches. Water. VO: "From my many selves, I wanted to make an autobiography which my paintings and drawings would take part in… trying to find something that I like, the essential me". Water. Stanley Spencer VO photographs of himself and family saying that no matter what his background might have been, "everything would still have depended on how happy [he] was…". VO talking about parents and family life. Photographs of "Fernlea", the family house, of Cookham, etc. Flowers and other plants, "the magical out of doors"; VO talking about countryside at Cookham. Spencer VO on "a kind of religious significance" about life and "a longing to be joined, at one with that wonderful religious atmosphere…". Countryside. Spencer VO continues, remembering wondering if he would be able to describe what he saw. Early sketches, Thoughts of a Dutch Boy and illustrations to stories he’d heard; VO says these had no magic so he decided to draw Cookham Common. Sketches, winter scenes near Cookham; Spencer’s VO. River at Odney; Spencer VO talking about people swimming there and about winter light. Fields; Spencer’s VO talking about his "terrific need" to make his drawings work for him, and about a visit to the farm at Mill Lane. Animals. Sketch of Woman Feeding a Calf with Spencer’s VO describing it and the feeling of being "part of this wonder". Sketch, The New Shawl; the nursery at "Fernlea". VO describing the room and the view from the window. Spencer’s VO over garden scenes. The Neighbours (1936) replicates the view down from the nursery. Swan-Upping at Cookham (c.1915-1919); VO explains that his own thoughts "married" the people to the place and that he didn’t look at the actual scene until he had his composition clear in his mind. Baptism (1952) places Christ’s baptism below Odney weir; VO talks about criticism for distortion in figure painting. St Francis and the Birds (1935); VO says that the form of the saint intensifies "his union with nature". Spencer wheeling his easel away on a pram; VO talks about having to become a landscape painter to earn money. Cookham from Cookham Dene (1938); detail. Gardens in the Pound, Cookham (1936); Spencer’s VO talking about the need for "close adherence" to his subject: "landscapes and portraits are the exact reverse of the other pictures" and he believes he has no ability in these areas. Wisteria (c.1942). Another garden picture. Turk’s Boatyard, Cookham (c.1931). Spencer sketching. VO describes his "compositional drawings as the consummation of love": several pictures. Photograph of Spencer with fellow students; VO describes his art school experience as "exterior happenings". A Self Portrait.