Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) is one of the outstanding painters of the twentieth century. Highly controversial and single-minded in the pursuit of his personal vision, he ellen suffered neglect and hostility, and he has tended to be seen as an eccentric visionary working within an essentially English tradition, However, with the recent rapid growth of his rept, tation, his contribution to British art and his true stature as an artist are now internationally recognized...

Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) is one of the outstanding painters of the twentieth century. Highly controversial and single-minded in the pursuit of his personal vision, he ellen suffered neglect and hostility, and he has tended to be seen as an eccentric visionary working within an essentially English tradition, However, with the recent rapid growth of his rept, tation, his contribution to British art and his true stature as an artist are now internationally recognized.

Keith Bell’s comprehensive and detailed catalogue raisonne of Spencer’s work was first published in 1992,and immedialely became the standard reference work on the artist. For this second edition, Bell’s absorbing narralive texl is reissued as a self-contained monograph with over 300 colour illuslralinns. The author deals fully with Spenccr’s major l’igurative works and celebraled nudes, writes sympathetically about the artist’s complicated personal life and highly unorthodox view of Christian lheology, and introduces his lesser-known bul highly accomplished landscapes and portrails. The holes,bibliography and indexes of lhe original edition have been rclained, while the Calalogne has been abbreviated to a summary eheeklist. In its new abridged paperback formal, a scholarly, readable and richly illustraIed survey of one of the ’Old Masters’ of modern British art is made accessible Io a new and wider audience.

Preface

Chronology

Chapter 1. Figure Paintings 1906-1915

Chapter 2. Figure Paintings 1918-1932

Chapter 3. Figure Paintings 1933-194S

Chapter 4. Figure Paintings 1946-1959

Chapter 5. Landscape Paintings

Chapter 6. Portraits

Notes

Catalogue

Bibliography

Index of Works

General Index

Index of Public Collections

Acknowledgements