Ruskin Spear, R.A. (London 1911-1990)

Ruskin Spear was born in Hammersmith and made the area the subject of most of his paintings. He studied at Hammersmith School of Art and the Royal College of Art and went on to teach at Croydon School of Art, St. Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1932 and was elected a Royal Academician in 1954.

A similar view towards Hammersmith Bridge by the same artist, River in Winter, 1951 (Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea) was exhibited as no. 20 in the Royal Academy's 1980 Retrospective Exhibition. In the introduction to the catalogue Robert Buhler wrote, 'One could say that Ruskin Spear has done for Hammersmith what Sickert did for Camden Town' (see R. Buhler, Ruskin Spear, R.A., Royal Academy Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, 1980, p. 8).