How a passenger service to the seaside may have inspired one of the greatest marine painters.
In London in 1954, one artist wrote his own manifesto. Lucian Freud wrote ‘Some Thoughts on Painting’ for the July 1954 edition of Encounter magazine. It would remain his only written publication, but he would continue to work by its principles all his life, even through changes in style and technique.
Stanley Spencer was a controversial figure for most of his career. On one side were those who deplored the distortions in his figure painting and loathed his sexually obsessed, self-centred subject matter.
Stanley Spencer never joined any art movement.
If Stanley Spencer is part of a group, it is as one of a generation of artists whose experiences in the First World War affected their work for years to come.
Turner was just as controversial, just as revolutionary, just as original, just as much of a genius as any of his contemporaries. And if genius is thought to be tinged with madness, then so was Turner.
Laura Knight's 1930 circus painting: There is a sense of anticipation, of things going on beyond the dark curtain.