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.