Hebridean Memory
This large, ambitious imaginative composition was painted in response to an invitation to contribute a painting to the Festival of Britain's '60 paintings for '51' exhibition. It is draws on Spencer's memories of an idyllic stays on the island of Canna in the Scottish Hebrides with his friends John Lorne and Margaret Campbell. He visited the island in the late 1930s, and again in 1947. Spencer reworked the canvas over several years but was ultimately dissatisfied with the result. A preparatory drawing in pencil and watercolour, squared for transfer, is in a private collection.
Date: c. 1949-51, later alterations by artist
Tags: Figures, Oil Paintings
Medium: Oil on canvas
Height (mm): 1270
Width (mm): 2970
Location: Private collection
Exhibition History: London, RBA Galleries, Suffolk Street, '60 Paintings for 51?, 1 January-31 December 1951 (48); RA 1955 (355)
Provenance: FAS; Liss Llewellyn, private collection
Literature: Spencer 1974 pp. 152-4; '60 paintings for '51' (Arts Council, 1951), illus. pl. 20; Gough 2024 pp. 261-6
Date: c. 1949-51, later alterations by artist
Tags: Figures, Oil Paintings
Medium: Oil on canvas
Height (mm): 1270
Width (mm): 2970
Location: Private collection
Exhibition History: London, RBA Galleries, Suffolk Street, '60 Paintings for 51?, 1 January-31 December 1951 (48); RA 1955 (355)
Provenance: FAS; Liss Llewellyn, private collection
Literature: Spencer 1974 pp. 152-4; '60 paintings for '51' (Arts Council, 1951), illus. pl. 20; Gough 2024 pp. 261-6