Stanley Spencer is seen as one of the most innovative British painters of his era. His works include pre-First World War paintings and complex pieces of the mid-1930s, produced at a time of marital and stylistic crisis. This catalogue celebrates the achievements of an artist who explored, experimented and developed his work over five decades and accompanies the exhibition of Spencer's work at Tate Britain, presenting him as a major artist of the 20th century who was profoundly engaged with the shifting nature of modern life. The book includes an essay by the painter and writer Timothy Hyman which focuses on the prolonged but strangely fruitful crisis of the 1930s, while examining both the visionary and realist strands in Spencer's imagination. Cultural historian Patrick Wright discusses Spencer's return to England after the First World War and the circles in which he moved.