Spencer, Stanley Sir RA
Shipbuilding on the Clyde: Riveters
1941
painting
© crown
'Riveters', begun in late June 1941, was the third in a series of paintings commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee. The picture was painted at the home of Mrs Harter, Sidney Carline's mother-in-law, who was looking after Spencer's two daughters by his first wife Hilda Carline. It was delivered to the Committee on 9 December 1941, who reduced the payment from £300 to £200 because it lacked a larger centre section.
In an undated letter to the War Artist's Advisory Committee received on 21 October 1940, Spencer described the end of 'Burners' as the beginning of 'Riveters'. It was his original intention that each panel ran into the next: 'I like the theme of continuous and not absolutely cut off by item as the continuous character helps preserve the impression one gets in the shipyard itself as in wandering about among the varied happenings.'
In a letter to Daphne Charlton in May 1940, Spencer describes the workmen on his arrival at the Shipyard: 'There is something in the appearance & size & character of these shipbuilding chiefs. They look really good in their overcoats flapping open as they walk about from one part of the yard to another & wearing the assertive bowler hat. The workmen are the colour of iron, somewhat rusty colour.' (868)
related drawings: LD 1623, LD 1624, LD 1625, LD 1626, LD 6008 2 (verso), LD 6008 10, LD 6008 63, LD 6008 125, LD 6008 134
image: From left to right; two men apply anti-corrosion paint to two completed crow's nests and a gang of six men fit temporary bolts to the steel masts and line up the rivet holes while the 'heater boy' above them prepares a brazier and collects a rivet from a sack; large sections of three masts are being prepared and riveted, the 'heater boys' dropping the hot rivet in its hole, the 'holder on' sitting inside the hollow steel mast and steadying the rivet while the riveter hammers it flat; three men pull a heavy load using ropes; a gang of foremen in their bowler hats study a plan.
IWM Reference: IWM ART LD 1375
