Spencer's enduring popularity

2:54pm Thursday 10th July 2008

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COOKHAM artist Stanley Spencer is hugely popular almost fifty years after his death, as proven by one of his paintings fetching £120,000 at a London auction house last week.

Crossing The Road, which forms part of Spencer's famed Church House project, went under the hammer for its estimated price at Bonhams' 20th Century British Art Sale on Wednesday.

In common with many of his other works, Crossing The Road depicts a Biblical scene which takes place not in the Holy Land, but the picturesque Berkshire village where Spencer was born and spent the majority of his life.

In his own words, Cookham was "a village in heaven" and certainly proved a huge inspiration in his artwork.

With Crossing The Road, a simple glance shows an old man with a young girl at his side, assisting him in crossing the road. But Spencer's subtle religious message imagines the young girl as a disciple, who must lead the old man through the streets of Cookham to the gates of St Peter and heaven itself.

Started during the 1930s, Spencer's Church House project allowed him to explore his more unorthodox ideas about religion and devotion. He worked on the imaginative series until his death in 1959, aged 67.

Also under the hammer at Bonhams earlier this week was an early 20th Century French beechwood travelling easel, which was once owned by Spencer.

The easel comes with a letter from the current owner detailing its provenance as a gift in 1950, as well as four drawings by her of Spencer himself.

She explains: "Stanley Spencer gave me this easel when I told him I was studying art at the Moor Hall. He said he had an easel he could spare if I would like it, and, as good as his word, he brought it a few days later."

She adds: "My colleagues at Moor Hall avoided Stanley Spencer, telling me he was a "scruffy man, always buttonholing anyone who would listen to him to talk about his paintings."

But Spencer's popularity has stood the test of time, as shown by his paintings selling well at auction, as well as the establishment of a gallery dedicated to his work in Cookham.

Having recently undergone a substantial £900,000 refurbishment, the Stanley Spencer Gallery was formerly the Methodist chapel where the artist prayed as a child.

Run entirely by volunteers, the gallery now boasts a collections of more than 120 works.