The Scrapheap (1944)

Stanley Spencer

oil on canvas

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Dimensions:

50.7 x 76.1 (stretcher) cm

Accession Number:

7543

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1945

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Committee

Ownership history:

Purchased from Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd, London by the Contemporary Art Society Committee, on behalf of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, November, 1944; presented to the Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW), Sydney, Australia, 1945

Relationship:

Ernest Marsh Arthur Tooth & Sons, London Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Subject:

Shipyard, Pattern, War

Between 1940 and 1945 Stanley Spencer served as an official World War II war artist and was commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee to record shipbuilding at Lithgows Shipyard in Port Glasgow, Scotland.

The Scrapheap (1944)is undoubtedly an offshoot of the shipyard paintings. Rich in pattern and detail, something Spencer became obsessed with in his later works, it confirms his ability to transform the everyday into something remarkable.

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