Sarajevo

Sarajevo

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 - 1959)

Date: 1922
Dimensions:
48 x 38 x 5.5 cm (18 7/8 x 14 15/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: GA0940
DescriptionIn 1922 Stanley Spencer travelled to Yugoslavia on a painting holiday where he spent a month in and around the city of Sarajevo (now the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina). In Sarajevo Spencer produced a number of oil paintings which included repeat views of minarets and other architectural forms. Of paintings produced during this visit, others are held by the Roebuck Collection (Craven Museum and Gallery, Skipton) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge). Sarajevo themed works by Spencer have also been sold at auction (Anthony Hepworth Fine Art Dealers Ltd) and are considered a pivotal moment which greatly informed his painting style.

This intense period of painting and travel was soon followed by Spencer receiving his most significant commission and for which he is arguably best known: the large-scale mural paintings at Sandham Memorial Chapel in Hampshire (commission received in 1923; completed between 1926 and 1932).

Benjamin Angwin - November 2014