Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery is staging a Flora Twort exhibition called Draw From Life and a Stanley Spencer show entitled A Petersfield View until September 26.

Flora Twort was born in 1893, living and working in Petersfield from 1918 until her death in 1985. This exhibition brings together Twort’s drawings, including early studies of family members, sensitive portraits informed by her training at the Slade School of Fine Art in 1920, and vibrant scenes of Petersfield life.

Jeremy Mitchell, the gallery’s chair of trustees, said: “It is a great privilege to care for an artist’s body of work, including their paintings and drawings and their collection of sketchbooks, source material and archive material. It offers the opportunity to focus on different aspects within the collection, which provides a richer insight into their life and work.

“We are particularly proud that this exhibition is supported by an Art Fund Reimagine Grant. It is part of an ongoing project titled Flora Twort at the Creative Heart of Petersfield organised by the Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery to raise the profile of this remarkable collection, locally, regionally and more widely, and celebrate Twort’s artistic legacy.”

The gallery is also celebrating the centenary of Stanley Spencer’s painting The Poultry Market, Petersfield, which is on loan from the Government Art Collection and is being shown in Petersfield for the first time.

This complements the Flora Twort exhibition and tells the story of Spencer’s time living and working in Steep and Petersfield between 1921 and 1923.

The painting depicts a view Spencer would have seen when he stayed at Flora Twort’s studio in Petersfield. This friendship between artists was captured in a portrait drawn by Twort of Spencer, which is on loan to the display from a private collection.

Louise Weller, the gallery’s head of collections and exhibitions, said: “One of the constantly fascinating aspects of local history is the surprising interconnectedness of lives. Friendships and opportunities for work bring people together - sometimes briefly, other times it shapes the course of the rest of their lives.

“These two displays bring together early drawings by Flora Twort, many informed by her time at the Slade, where a few years before Stanley Spencer had also been a student. When Spencer found himself in Petersfield without somewhere to stay, it was his friendship with Twort that enabled him to stay for a time at her studio at 1 The Square, Petersfield.

“During this time he would have observed the poultry market from the studio window, which he later painted. A hundred years on, this painting is on display in the town that inspired it, alongside an exhibition of the work of his friend and fellow artist Flora Twort.

“This is an exciting moment for Petersfield. In this painting, Spencer brought his developing artistic vision to an everyday Petersfield scene. To be able to display this painting in Petersfield for the first time builds on the museum’s ambition to bring works of art from national collections to Petersfield for all to enjoy.”