3 February
–
23 April 2006
Section
1: Defining DocumentaryStanley Spencer 1891-1959
William McBrearty, Sawyer
1943-4
© Estate of Stanley Spencer. All Rights Reserved,
DACS 2002
Spencer became very attached to Port Glasgow and its inhabitants while working on his commission there as a War Artist. This drawing of a shipbuilder at Port Glasgow is a highly individualised portrait, and attests both to Spencer's renowned facility as a portraitist and to the ease between artist and sitter. Merchant shipping was suffering terrible losses at the time and the supply of shipbuilding materials from America was threatened. However the industry underwent considerable expansion during the war, becoming integral to the battle for the Atlantic. Such commissions provide an invaluable record of aspects of the home front during the war.
Learn more about this
work in the Tate Collection