Art Funded by you

Self Portrait, 1959

Stanley Spencer, 1959

Stanley Spencer, Self Portrait, 1959, Stanley Spencer Gallery, Art Funded 2020
© Estate of Stanley Spencer. All Rights Reserved. 2020 / Bridgeman Art Library. Acquired with generous support from the Art Fund, V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Band Trust, and Friends of the Stanley Spencer Gallery.

Stanley Spencer drew this intense self-portrait in the final months of his life, before his death from cancer, in 1959.

He was staying with friends in Yorkshire when he made the work, using a dressing-table mirror to study his reflection. The drawing shows Spencer's trademark short fringe; however, his face looks worn and frail compared with his appearance in earlier self-portraits. He also made an oil painting of the same composition, now held by Tate.

The Stanley Spencer Gallery exists to commemorate the life and work of the artist, and is located in the Berkshire village where he lived. The collection includes only two other self-portraits: a photolithograph showing the young artist in 1913 and an oil painting dating from 1923. This haunting work now joins them there.

This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.

More information

Title of artwork, date

Self Portrait, 1959, 1959

Date supported

2020

Medium and material

Red Conté drawing on paper

Total cost

185000

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