This lecture is part of the Spring Term Creative Conversations series; dialogues between artists, curators and writers. Curated by Dr Claudia Tobin, lectures are held Wednesday evenings either at the Royal Drawing School or online.
Stanley Spencer's work has influenced generations of artists since his death in1959. His series of nudes from the mid-1930s are searingly raw, emotionally charged explorations of the human form, laying essential groundwork for the later visions of Freud, Bacon and Emin.
Trained as a draughtsman under the rigorous guidance of Henry Tonks and inspired by Roger Fry's lectures on the Old Masters, Spencer developed a technical precision that remained central to his practice. The Michelangelo-esque cross-hatching he mastered as a student became a signature feature of his drawing throughout his life, most evident in his powerful portrait studies.
In this talk, Amanda Bradley Petitgas (Trustee and Chair of the Exhibitions Committee at the Stanley Spencer Gallery), Dr Amy Lim (Curator at the Stanley Spencer Gallery) and Julian Bell (artist and writer) will explore how Spencer worked through striking juxtapositions-sanctifying the ordinary, merging sexual progressiveness with a distinctly English domesticity. His work was underpinned by metaphysical poetry, mystic visionaries and an idiosyncratic religious belief.
Please note this event is taking place in person at the Royal Drawing School and tickets are limited.
Image: Stanley Spencer. The Betrayal, (First Version), 1914, 1919. Oil on canvas, 53.6 x 65.1 cm. Courtesy of Stanley Spencer Gallery.
