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Details
- Other Title
- Christ Calling the Apostles
- Date
- 1951-1952
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 127.0 x 205.7 cm stretcher; 141.5 x 220.8 x 7.5 cm frame
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Watson Bequest Fund 1952
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 8702
- Copyright
- © Estate of Sir Stanley Spencer/DACS. Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Stanley Spencer
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Stanley Spencer's [religiosity] was marked by an almost mystical fervour. His understanding of Christianity had a pantheistic overlay that allowed for the incorporation of his own wilful and eccentric imaginings. Eroticism was an area of human experience to which Spencer's art gave uninhibited expression, though this incident-filled composition is comparatively chaste. A Christ of Romanesque solidity presides over workers, village worthies, children and most of the local football team. The setting is a cottage garden in Cookham, Spencer's rural birthplace which he habitually portrayed as an earthly paradise. Part of a series of canvases executed for the Church Home, 'Christ in Cookham' recalls the fastidious images of the Pre-Raphaelites. In this collection it can be usefully compared with Ford Madox Brown's 'Chaucer at the court of Edward III', painted a century earlier. [Spencer] saw in the structures of English society the worldly articulation of a godly plan.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
This work is from the series 'Pentecost Last Judgement' intended for the Church-House.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Purchases and acquisitions for 1952, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Mar 1953–24 May 1953
Contemporary Religious Art: Adelaide Festival of Arts 1962, National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 17 Mar 1962–31 Mar 1962
Sir Stanley Spencer: Adelaide Festival of Arts 1966, National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Mar 1966–Mar 1966
Stanley Spencer: An English Vision, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 09 Oct 1997–04 Jan 1998
Stanley Spencer: An English Vision, Centro Cultural/ Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico, 19 Feb 1998–10 May 1998
Stanley Spencer: An English Vision, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, 08 Jun 1998–06 Sep 1998
Everyday Miracles: the art of Stanley Spencer, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, 05 Jul 2003–14 Sep 2003
Everyday Miracles: the art of Stanley Spencer, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, 25 Oct 2003–01 Feb 2004
Everyday Miracles: the art of Stanley Spencer, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, 28 Feb 2004–16 May 2004
Modern Britain 1900-1960, NGV: International, Melbourne, 15 Nov 2007–24 Feb 2008
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Bibliography
Referenced in 15 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, 54 (colour illus.).
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Keith Bell, Stanley Spencer - a complete catalogue of the paintings, London, 1992, 210-211 (illus.). cat.no. 378
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René Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'European', pg. 36-56, Sydney, 1988, 55.
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Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue of British paintings, Sydney, 1987, 183 (illus.).
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Renée Free, AGNSW Collections, 'The Western Heritage, Renaissance to Twentieth Century', pg. 108-172, Sydney, 1994, 161 (colour illus.).
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Ted Gott, Laurie Benson and Sophie Matthiesson, Modern Britain 1900-1960, Melbourne, 2007, 157 (colour illus.).
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Kitty Hauser, Stanley Spencer, 'Cookham', pg.30-45, London, 2001, 44, 45 (colour illus.). fig. 31
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Sydney, 1999, 63 (colour illus.).
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Anne Kirker and Peter Tomory, British painting 1800–1990 in Australian and New Zealand public collections, Sydney, 1997, 27 (colour illus.), 163. cat.no. 2060
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Mary Kisler and Justin Paton (Curators), Everyday Miracles: the art of Stanley Spencer, Dunedin, 2003, cover (colour illus.), 68, 69 (colour illus.). no catalogue numbers
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Fiona MacCarthy, Stanley Spencer: an English vision, New Haven, 1997, (colour illus.). cat.no. 56
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Kenneth Pople, Stanley Spencer: a biography, London, 1991, 473.
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Mary Sorrell, The Studio, 'The loved world of Stanley Spencer', pg.33-39, London, Feb 1954, 33 (illus.).
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Adelaide Festival of Arts 1966: special exhibitions at the National Gallery of South Australia, 'Sir Stanley Spencer', Adelaide, 1966. cat.no. 20
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The Adelaide Festival of Arts 1962: Special exhibitions at the National Gallery of South Australia, 'Contemporary Religious Art', Adelaide, 1962. cat.no. 11
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Provenance
Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd, London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from Arthur Tooth & Sons 1952
