This unusual sculpture is dedicated to Sir Stanley Spencer
and can be found outside Port Glasgow's new B&Q store in a nice little
landscaped area with seating. This is
the site of the former Lithgow shipbuilding yard.
Stanley Spencer spent a lot of time in Port Glasgow during
WWII when he was commissioned to paint scenes in the local shipyards showing
the workers' contribution to the war effort.
These are no idealised representations, but honest, down to earth views
of the shipyard workers going about their tasks.
Spencer was fascinated by Port Glasgow cemetery and based
his work "The Resurrection" there.
It is an enormous painting showing people climbing out of their graves,
in their everyday clothes, looking as if they had just woken up. It is held by the Tate Gallery and you can
see it here.
This is a very fitting tribute to a prolific painter who
immortalised the ordinary men and women who worked tirelessly in local
shipyards filling the endless demand for ships which would play an important part
in the war effort.
The final paragraph on the tribute reads -
These panels have been commissioned to celebrate the life and works of the
Wartime Artist Sir Stanley Spencer CBE.
The steel plates represent both the work of the Artist and the Ship
Building Industry of Port Glasgow. Their
shapes take inspiration from one of Spencer's most significant works entitled
'Burners' painted in 1940. It depicts
Ship Workers 'burning' or cutting steel plates before they are rivetted
together.
You can view that painting here.
More of Sir Stanley Spencer's work can be seen at the
Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham, Berkshire.
The Greenockian
I like this a lot!
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