Constructing on alternative reality: aspects of the work of Stanley Spencer
Date
1997
Authors
Grobler, Georg Diederik
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Abstract
Through his depiction of the ordinary and the everyday, Stanley Spencer manages to convey an
extraordinary vision. This research investigates his visionary intentions as expressed through
narrative pictorial devices. The construction of an 'Alternative Reality' in painting relates to the
desire to absorb the spectator into an imaginary world of the artist's devising, based largely on his
culture-specific environment Through the use of a naturalistic style, Spencer is able to mirror as
well as deviate from a straightforward copy of events to arrive at a visual expression of his
idiosyncratic views. I will examine how his belief in the redemptive power of art underlies his
transfusion of ordinary situations with his unorthodox religious views to the views of W.J.T. Mitchell
and James J Elkins on the radical possibilities of narrative in painting are considered in relation to
Spencer's method of constructing images and his process of materializing his unified vision. I
relate my own work to the above concerns.
Description
DISSERTATION
SUBMITIED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS,
FACULTY OF ARTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WiTWATERSRAND
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
Keywords
SPENCER, STANLEY, SIR, 1891-1959--CRITICISM AND INTERPRETATION., NARRATIVE PAINTING, BRITISH.