Looking to Heaven

Stanley Spencer's paintings are detailed and vibrant and very often depict his deep but eccentric Christian beliefs. One of his greatest achievements were the murals painted in the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere, inspired by his war service and showing realistic scenes of everyday life in a war zone, with dreamlike visions drawn from his imagination. Throughout his life Spencer kept a series of journals, noting things down and sketching the things around him, and these journals are now in the Tate Gallery Archive. This book is the first of a three volume set where these journals (though abridged) are published for the first time. The journals give an insight into how Spencer thought and how he worked. Spencer received numerous awards and great recognition throughout his life and was knighted in 1958.