Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959)

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Study for "Kit Inspection" Burghclere, circa 1930.
Pencil on paper.
Framed and glazed.
Provenance Given by the artist to Ian Kellam 1958. Purchased by RFA directly from Ian Kellam 2010.
Executed between 1927 and 1932, the wall paintings at Sandham Memorial Chapel comprise Stanley Spencer's most famous work and are arguably his finest achievement. This extraordinary project illustrates the artist's experiences as a medical orderly in a war hospital in Bristol and the northern Greek region of Macedonia during the First World War and was strongly influenced by Giotto's Arena Chapel in Padua. Painted in oil, Spencer intended the murals to celebrate the everyday routine of a soldier's life and to express an intensely personal religious faith. The scheme reaches its climax with the huge Resurrection of the Soldiers which completely fills the Altar wall and dominates the whole interior. Early in 1915 Spencer volunteered for service abroad, and was transfered to W Company, Royal Army Medical Corps, Tweseldown Camp, near Farnham, for basic training. In the finished oil painting "Kit Inspection" Exhibited RA (108), the only scene at Bughclere Chapel devoted to the camp, soldiers lay out their kit for inspection according to army regulations. In 1928 Spencer told the artist Sydney Carline that he was ommiting the scene from the chapel because the shapes were too rigid, and the scale of the figures were incompatible with the pictures on either side. However in 1930 he revised the composition, softening the shapes of the blankets, and placing an over-large soldier further back in the composition. A hand written inscription on the back of the frame reads Sketch for "Kit Inspection" given to me - Ian Kellam by the artist in 1958 (I used to play the piano for Stanley in Cookham) together with 3 other sketches, including one for the figures in the church for his 1929 Resurrection - now in the Tate. Signed Ian Kellam.
PriceSOLD DimensionsImage 6¾ x 6¼ in. (17.2 x 16.2 cm.) Frame 13¼ x 11 in. (33.8 x 28 cm.) Category Antique Pictures / Engravings / Art > Antique Drawings Date 1930 1930s Antiques Origin British Artist Sir Stanley Spencer Condition Very Good Item code as176a082 Status Sold

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