Hilda Anne Carline (1889–1950) was a British painter, daughter of the artist George Francis Carline, and first wife of the artist Stanley Spencer. She studied art under the Post-Impressionist Percyval Tudor-Hart, with her brothers Sydney and Richard, and then at the Slade School of Art under Henry Tonks. She had a promising early start with her works being shown at the London Group, Royal Academy and New English Art Club.
In 1925 she married fellow artist Stanley Spencer with whom she had what has been described as "the most bizarre domestic soap opera in the history of British art." During the time that Carline lived with Spencer she rarely painted and it was not until they separated that she began painting more frequently. Carline's physical and mental health was poor starting several years after her divorce and after 1937 she lived with family members. Spencer became obsessed with his ex-wife with whom he corresponded and painted. In her later years she made religious works with pastels. She died in 1950, having struggled for several years with breast cancer. A touring exhibition of her works, The Art of Hilda Carline: Mrs. Stanley Spencer, was held in 1999.
Early life
Hilda Anne Carline was born on 20 November 1889 to the artist George Francis Carline and Annie Smith Carline, who had been adopted by a relative and never knew her mother or father, John Smith.
Carline was one of five children born to the family. Of her brothers, Richard and Sydney became artists, and George chose another career. The family moved many times when she was a child. She lived in London until 1892 when the family moved to Oxford. After that, they lived in Switzerland, Derbyshire and returned to Oxford.
Adulthood
Education and World War I service
George Carline taught his daughter to paint until October 1913, when she enrolled in the school that Percyval Tudor-Hart had established in Hampstead. Prior to that, Tudor-Hart had a school in Paris where her brothers Sydney and Richard had studied. Now, Sydney, Richard and Hilda lived and studied together, sharing their opinions about art. Hilda focused on making watercolour paintings and sketching. Tudor-Hart, a Post-Impressionist who was an early proponent of colour theories of Wassily Kandinsky, introduced them to avant-garde continental art that was "expressive, bold, abstract and 'primitive.'"
From 1916 to 1918 Hilda did farm work for the Women's Land Army near Wangford, Suffolk. She made Return from the Farm, in a Gauguinesque style that reflected her connection to and appreciation for the countryside. After the war she enrolled at the Slade School of Art, where she studied part-time over five years. Under Henry Tonks, Carline studied line and formalism, which was different from the instruction she received from Tudor-Hart. She was able to leverage what she learned from Tudor-Hart to make works that were nearly abstract landscapes, and she also made refined landscapes and figures from Tonks instruction. She earned prizes for her drawings and paintings. In the early 1920s, Hilda participated in the gatherings of artists and intellectuals – including Stanley Spencer, John and Paul Nash. – that met at her family's house on Downshire Hill in Hampstead. Henry Lamb called them "cercle pan-artisque of Downshire Hill." She and her brothers exhibited at the London Group, Hilda in 1921. She also exhibited at the New English Art Club and the Royal Academy.
Marriage
In December 1919, she met Stanley Spencer. He liked the fact that she was a devout Christian Scientist, talented, imaginative and striking. Spencer said of her: "I felt she had the same mental attitude to things as I had. I saw myself in that extraordinary person. I saw life with her."
The Carline family travelled for painting retreats and Stanley Spencer accompanied them on the 1920 Seaford, Sussex, 1922 Yugoslavia and 1924 Essex and Suffolk trips. Spencer and Hilda Carline often painted landscapes side-by-side, making similar works. He proposed to her six times before they were married, Spencer got cold feet and called the wedding off, only to ask her again. They were married quietly on 23 February 1925 and lived in the Vale of Heath Hotel, near Hampstead Heath. A shared studio was established at the Vale of Heath. In 1927 they moved to Hampshire and by 1931 they were living in Burghclere, Hampshire.