Stanley Spencer Goes to War

Stanley Spencer Goes to War – a lecture by Carolyn Leder

In a series of masterpieces, Spencer produced some of the most original responses to the two great conflicts of the twentieth century. This is evidenced in rarely seen historical photographs and comparisons with the work of some of Spencer’s contemporaries at home and in Germany. Whilst abroad on active service in the First World War, he conceived the idea of a chapel: the resulting murals in the Sandham Memorial Chapel (now National Trust) are regarded as among the ‘most moving monuments to twentieth century war’. Inspired by the workers of Port Glasgow in the 1940s, he celebrated their
achievements in his Shipbuilding on the Clyde series.