Stanley Spencer, “Self-Portrait”

Lyndsay says “I adore this beautiful simple red chalk drawing.  The detail, expression and muted colours are very organic and intimate”.

Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) is considered to be one of the most original figures in 20th-century British art.  He lived for most of his life in his native village of Cookham, which played a large part in the imagery of his paintings.  Spencer was a prize-winning student at the Slade School (1908–12) and served in the army from 1915 to 1918, first at the Beaufort War Hospital in Bristol, then in Macedonia. He was appointed an Official War Artist in 1918.  His 1927 painting the Resurrection was hailed by the critic of The Times as ‘the most important picture painted by any English artist in the present century’.

Self portrait, 1912, red chalk on paper, 40 x 22cm, Stanley Spencer (1891-1959).  Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, gift of the Contemporary Art Society, 1954.

Biographical information taken from Art UK.