Friends & influences : the memoirs of an artist / Gary Sargeant.

"This ... memoir sheds light upon a little-known artistic fraternity that arguably consists of twentieth century British Art's most visionary, and overlooked artists. Becoming life-long friends as a consequence of their service in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War One, they were closely involved in the founding of the Imperial War Museum, and later of the William Morris Museum, in Walthamstow, London. ... Spare is revealed not as a recluse, but part of a like-minded group of dedicated Realists that included Haydn Mackey, Walter E. Spradbery, Frank Brangwyn, and Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, who would attend life-classes together and assist each other in times of hardship. ... Correspondence and memoir are employed to address artistic integrity, socialism, and pacifism -- themes largely neglected by art theory -- but urgent issues these artists grappled with when confronted with two world wars, and social turmoil in the post-war era."--From the publisher.