During my debate with Stephen over the retrospective pardoning of executed Great War soldiers, he mentioned as an aside that I should visit the National Trust's Sandham Memorial Chapel. I am pleased to report that I have now done so, and although we are unlikely ever to reach agreement on the issue of the Great War pardons, we can certainly agree on the virtues of visiting the Chapel.
It is a small building in the Hampshire countryside, with views of Watership Down (the very same). The reason for the Chapel's fame is the series of murals by the artist Stanley Spencer, inspired by his experiences as a medical orderly in the Great War. It was a truly moving experience on which I simply don't have time to blog adequately - and time may not be the only obstacle; I fear my powers of language would be insufficient.
Nevertheless as readers will have seen I have attached some photos above; these are from the trust's own site (linked above) as appropriately no photography is permitted within the building itself (it might damage the pigment and would in any event disrupt the ambiance the setting deserves).
The first picture, poignant to my debate with Stephen, shows a hospital floor (it is the Beaufort Hospital in Bristol) being cleaned by a man who is suffering shellshock.
The second picture is entitled 'ablutions' and shows a hospital at work.
The third is of a pause during a route march, and contains the only depiction of an officer in any of the 19 murals. The guide in attendance thought this showed his general disdain for authority; one of my party of three countered that it is not simply officers properly so-called who reflect authority in the army but NCOs as well. We suspect it reflects his particular dislikes of officers in his experience.
More pictures can be found on the NT's site here. Spencer's Wikipedia entry is here. His Gallery site is here.
Incidentally we also visited another National Trust property, the stately home The Vyne, which is nearby and was also certainly worth the effort.
4 comments:
Obviously I'm glad that you took up my recommendation and more importantly found it worthwhile. I trust you also enjoyed a good lunch at the Carpenter's Arms!
I have been visiting the chapel (generally annually) for the past fifty years now; the sense of awe I feel when I enter has not diminished in the slightest over all that time. It seems astonishing that Spencer started designing the chapel and preparing sketches even while he was serving as an infantryman (he transferred from the Medical Corps) in the latter part of the war and when he was only in his mid-20s.
The National Trust have put in a lot of work recently restoring the chapel, as part of that the paintings were cleaned a couple of years ago to great effect.
Although it is not detrimental to their impact in any way, some of the information about the paintings offered by the NT is unfortunately erroneous, and largely bypasses the spiritual dimension that is central to Spencer's work. The Beaufort Hospital had been a lunatic asylum until it was taken over by the army and the man scrubbing the floor is actually one of the 'lunatics' known as Deborah. Spencer was regularly detailed to scrub floors himself and found a peace in doing so; to that extent he includes his own experience in the picture (in most he is portrayed directly).
I don't think the portrayal of only a single commissioned officer in the paintings actually reflects a dislike of officers, rather that they didn't figure significantly in the experiences and feelings that Spencer was seeking to make sense of and communicate through the chapel and its paintings.
His work in the second World War is also very powerful if less ambitious in scope; it is found in the Imperial War Museum although it is sadly not always all displayed and rarely entirely as Spencer intended.
Anyone interested in understanding Spencer's work should seek out Ken Pople's biography; it is long out of print but can be easily found through such sites as Abebooks. Not cheap, but recommended without reservation.
Of the paintings in the chapel, excluding the Resurrection itself, my personal favourite is 'Bedmaking'. The vibrant colours of the mattress, and all those pictures pinned to the wall behind the bed; Spencer's ability to find purpose and meaning in insignificant and mundane tasks gives positivity to the shared human experience (particularly of comradeship) that lay at the foundation of the machine that was war.
Thanks Stephen. Lacking both general art knowledge and specific knowledge of Sandham, I'm not qualified to comment much further but many thanks for your informative remarks all the same. I agree it is annoying when interpretation is presented on fact sheets (the clue is in the name) as fact.
Ump, I am currently reading Casualty figures, by Michele Barrett. It is an interesting exploration of the post-war lives of a few particular veterans of WWI, and ruminates more broadly on the impact of the war on the ongoing health of those veterans without specific physical injuries, but with mental or 'spiritual' damage from their experiences.
It's well worth a look.
I for one enjoyed both the post, and appreciate Stephen’s elaboration. Very enlightening, and makes me want to explore it further!
Cheers Kris, I'm not aware of that work but will look it up. I hope you find the time to post on it once you've finished. I'd certainly recommend a visit to the chapel, though it's not exactly in your neck of the woods!!
Post a Comment