Sir Stanley Spencer

The Roundabout

1923

© Estate of Stanley Spencer

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Not on display

Artist: Sir Stanley Spencer 1891–1959
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 521 × 457 mm
frame: 612 × 551 × 50 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1944
Reference: N05556

Display caption

This was painted in Henry Lamb's studio at the top of the Vale Hotel, the Vale of Health, Hampstead. The window of the studio overlooked the Hampstead fairground, and Spencer obviously found his imagery there. The Hampstead fairground had been the inspiration for work by other artists such as Richard Carline and Mark Gertler. The roundabout with chairs that Spencer chose to paint was a recent invention, only being introduced to fairgrounds in 1922.

Gallery label, September 1999

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Catalogue entry

N05556 THE ROUNDABOUT 1923

Not inscribed.
Canvas, 20 1/2×18 (52×46).
Chantrey Purchased from the Leicester Galleries 1944.
Coll: Purchased by Sir Michael Sadler from the artist.
Exh: Selected Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture from the Collection of the late Sir Michael Sadler, Leicester Galleries, January–February 1944 (81).
Lit: Collis, 1962, p.84.
Repr: Wilenski, 1924, pl.27.

Painted about 1923 at Hampstead, when the artist was working in Henry Lamb's studio on the top floor of the Vale Hotel, Vale of Health. The windows of the studio overlooked the fairground.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II

Film and audio

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Poem of the Month: Henry Shukman

Henry Shukman reads his poem 'The Roundabout' based on Stanley Spencer's painting. As a fiction writer Henry Shukman has won …