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Activity at Tree Cottage no.2
Year: 1967Size (cm): 59 x 43
Collection: © Royal Academy of Arts, London
This self-portrait shows Gilbert Spencer in his studio at Tree Cottage, Upper Basildon, Berkshire where he lived from 1936-1970. Spencer normally worked outdoors but in winter would paint from his cottage windows or what he called his ‘little Colt studio’ in the garden. In his autobiography he said of this studio -‘When I entered it for the first time I hated it so much that I knocked it about, and messed it up to get it more in sympathy with my feelings for painting in odd corners, or bedrooms, indoors. The fact is I am no “studio” artist and never have been, a hang-over from Cookham days. (Source: Royal Academy)
