New Spencer exhibition in Cookham

By Emma Midgley
BBC Berkshire

Stanley Spencer was an accomplished portrait painter

A new exhibition of the artist Stanley Spencer will open at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham on Thursday 5 November, 2009.

The exhibition will focus on his talents as a portrait painter and his experiences in the Great War.

Nine of the works in the exhibition relate to Spencer's army service.

Visitors can see paintings relating to the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere, one of the most powerful art works to emerge from the Great War.

Stanley Spencer was born and spent most of his life in Cookham and many of his paintings are set in the village.

Some of Spencer's paintings feature actual Cookham villagers and local events such as the tradition of swan upping, or annual counting of the swans, which continues to this day.

Biblical landscapes

When Spencer attended art school at the Slade, his nickname was 'Cookham' because he talked so much about the village and returned there so frequently.

Spencer supported himself selling landscapes depicting the Berkshire countryside, but it is his unusual biblical scenes, painted in a naive style, for which he is most celebrated.

Paintings such as The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-6) are set not in the holy land, but in Cookham and feature actual villagers as biblical characters.

Cookham has changed greatly since Stanley Spencer grew up there in the late 1890s and early 1900s, when it was an isolated, rural village. However many views and buildings which Spencer painted can still be seen by walking around the village.

The Stanley Spencer Gallery is run entirely by volunteers

The Stanley Spencer Gallery is run entirely by community volunteers. They have put together a Stanley Spencer walk which allows visitors in Cookham to walk around the village and see the views that Spencer painted.

The latest exhibition, which goes on display between 5 November and 28 March 2010, will concentrate on Stanley Spencer's experiences in the Great War and his skills as a portrait artist.

Spencer decorated the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere with murals inspired by the experience of First World War.

The Stanley Spencer Gallery is the only gallery in Britain devoted exclusively to an artist in the village where he was born and spent most of his working life.