Celebrate the display of Stanley Spencer's The Poultry Market, Petersfield, this summer
Spencer arrived in Steep in July 1921, having accepted an invitation from the distinguished draughtsman and war artist Sir Muirhead Bone to stay at the family home, Byways. Bone, a major supporter of younger artists, hoped Spencer would undertake a decorative mural scheme for the newly completed Steep Village Memorial Hall and be considered for a potential commission at Bedales School. During this period, Spencer produced a number of drawings of music classes at Bedales and continued work on major paintings, while living in a number of different residencies in Petersfield. A few years later, he painted these depictions of the poultry market after moving back to London in 1923.
The temporary display of the painting in Petersfield represents a major cultural milestone for the town and a unique opportunity to celebrate a little bit of local artistic history. On loan from the Government Art Collection, this will be the first time this painting has been shown in Petersfield, the town that inspired it.
About the artist
Sir Stanley Spencer (1891–1959) was one of Britain’s most distinctive modern painters, celebrated for his ability to merge the everyday with the divine. Born in Cookham, a small Thames-side village, he famously called his “earthly paradise.” Spencer trained at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1908 to 1912. During the First World War, Spencer served first with the Royal Army Medical Corps and later in an infantry unit in Macedonia. The trauma and humanity he witnessed profoundly shaped his artistic vision, later culminating in the monumental murals at Sandham Memorial Chapel in Hampshire, which he worked on from 1926 until 1932. After its completion, Spencer moved back to Cookham.
