Stanley Spencer sketchbook to go on show
An unpublished sketchbook containing the earliest known drawings by artist Stanley Spencer and a short story is to go on display in West Yorkshire.
The sketchbook, created around 1907 when Spencer was a teenager, includes drawings of the landscape around his home town of Cookham, Berkshire. It also images of mermaids, witches and characters from fairy tales. The previously unpublished book will feature in the Hepworth Wakefield's summer exhibition of Spencer's work. Stanley Spencer: Of Angels and Dirt runs from 24 June to 15 October and coincides with the 125th anniversary of the English artist's birth. Eleanor Clayton, curator at the Hepworth Wakefield, said she had come across the sketchbook while researching the exhibition at the Spencer family home in London. She said the "detailed depictions of local flora and fauna" and its insights into the young artist's "eccentric imagination" made for a "fascinating" exhibit. John Spencer, Stanley Spencer's grandson, said it was "a privilege" to work with the gallery on "this celebration of his life and art".