STANLEY SPENCER

STANLEY SPENCER
1891 COOKHAM – 1959 TAPLOW
STUDY FOR “CHRIST PREACHING AT COOKHAM REGATTA”

The very definition of an updated, modernized version of Scripture, “Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta” is a mis-en-scene involving women listening and participating in the Mass at Cookham, Spencer’s lifelong obsession and hometown. Much as Renaissance artists draped Christ in contemporary clothes, the rendering in Cookham depicts female characters dressed in 1950s attire, hands extended in worship and adulation at hearing the words of the Lord. The composition, of which this sheet is a study, represents a gathering of women listening in reverie to Christ’s sermon.

Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Art, Spencer became well known for his paintings depicting Biblical scenes occurring as if taking place in Cookham, the small village beside the River Thames where he was born and spent much of his life. Spencer referred to Cookham as “a village in Heaven” and in his biblical scenes, fellow-villagers are shown as their Gospel counterparts. Wiki.

DETAILS

The drawing has the Christie’s studio stamp on lower left corner with the Stanley Spencer Studio marque after the sale of his estate. The tissue is mounted to a backing sheet to preserve it, and it is encased in Mylar until it may safely be framed. The sheet also has another study at right angles of boys looking over a fence. It is drawn on very thin tissue paper.

DIMENSIONS: Sheet size 43 x 30cm (17 x 12 inches).

PRICE: $3,500.00

STANLEY SPENCER 1958