Art Appreciation: The Art of Stanley Spencer
Course details
Course code
Q00017938Course date
Number of classes
5 sessionsTimetable
Tutor
Stephen SmithFee range
How you'll learn
Venue
OnlineLevel of study
Entry Levels 1,2,3: If you have never studied this subject before and you’re not confident in your skills, Entry levels are a good starting point.
Level 1: Covers basic skills and knowledge needed for this subject
Level 2: Building on basic knowledge or experience. Similar to Grade 4/ C at GCSE or O level in England or Standards in Scotland.
Level 3: Learn about the topic in-depth and have a broad range of skills. Independent working Equivalent to an A level in England or Higher in Scotland.
Beginners: A perfect introduction if you have no experience and skills in this subject.
Improvers: The next step if you have basic skills or knowledge but want to progress them further.
Advanced: Build on the solid experience and skills you have in this subject, applying your skills and knowledge in a more complex way.
Availability
Course overview
Course description
In our five discussions, we will explore Stanley Spencer’s art and his world from five different perspectives. These will include:
Through his friendships and relationships.
Through his affinity with the English landscape.
Through his sexuality.
Through his unconventional faith.
Through his work relating to the Great War, which marked him profoundly in his after years, after his return from the war, where he had worked in the ambulance corps.
In this manner we will discover elements such as serious whimsy, a mannerism which he shares with the writer Virginia Woolf, and indeed Spencer existed for a while on the periphery of Bloomsbury.
Bloomsbury as one knows was a sometimes febrile gathering of competing sexualities and egos, and we will note how Spencer’s nudes which were once considered shocking may now be seen to prefigure some of the work of Lucian Freud.
We will also consider Spencer’s religious art, which reaches back before Raphael, and which is firmly located in the countryside around Cookham, where the resurrection seems both immanent and imminent. Perhaps, it is this unconventional Christian vision which sharpens his war art as well.
Come along and enjoy lively discussions of these topics and others
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