Nancy Spender
Encyclopedia
Nancy Spender was an English
painter.
Born Nancy Sharp in Truro
, she attended the Slade School of Art, where she met her first husband, William Coldstream
, with whom she had two daughters. In the late 1930s she had an affair with Louis MacNeice
, illustrating two of his books and partially inspiring Autumn Journal. During the Second World War, she worked as an ambulance driver, and married Michael Spender, brother of the poet Stephen Spender
. A son was born in 1943, Philip Spender
, but Michael was killed during the last week of the war, and Nancy never remarried. She worked as an art teacher after the war.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
painter.
Born Nancy Sharp in Truro
Truro
Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...
, she attended the Slade School of Art, where she met her first husband, William Coldstream
William Coldstream
Sir William Menzies Coldstream was a British realist painter and a long standing art teacher.-Biography:...
, with whom she had two daughters. In the late 1930s she had an affair with Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Frederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
, illustrating two of his books and partially inspiring Autumn Journal. During the Second World War, she worked as an ambulance driver, and married Michael Spender, brother of the poet Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
. A son was born in 1943, Philip Spender
Philip Spender
Philip Spender is a prominent public-sector fundraiser who has worked with Index on Censorship, the Writers and Scholars Educational Trust, and OneWorld Online. He is a trustee of the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust, and the son of the painter Nancy Spender.He was the dedicatee of W. H...
, but Michael was killed during the last week of the war, and Nancy never remarried. She worked as an art teacher after the war.