DOI issue:
No. 270 (September 1915)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21213#0300
Studio-Talk
“THE alarm” (BRONZE). BY E. CALDWELL SPRUCE
of Colonel E. A. Brotherton, whose portrait bust in
bronze by Mr. Spruce was well placed in this year’s
Academy. Mr. Spruce’s fine marble bust of Lord
Airedale is among the treasures of the Leeds City
Art Gallery, and he was commissioned to execute
the memorial tablet of Phil May (his personal
friend) placed upon the birthplace ; this was repro-
duced in The Studio.
Mr. Spruce is particularly happy not only in
catching an excellent likeness of his sitter but in
getting far more; the inner character is indicated
and the subtle expression and poise of head or
body closely observed and reproduced. He has
no faith in eccentricities though he is quite alive
to the merits of the best up-to-date sculpture. He
prefers to regard his work as something to be done
in a straightforward truthful manner with freedom
and breadth. F. K.
“THE ROISTERER” BY E. CALDWELL SPRUCE
280
a number of years, thereby gaining useful practical
knowledge of architectural and ceramic decorative
work. At this time he was also teaching modelling
at the Leeds School of Art. With a strong desire
to do work of higher order Mr. Spruce went to
Paris for serious study.
It was in 1905 that Mr. Spruce first exhibited at
the Paris Salon, the work being a bronze portrait
tablet. Returning to Leeds he thoroughly entered
into his career. His designs in competition were
accepted for part of the external decoration of the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Rio de Janeiro.
Of the four huge panels he executed for the
building two were each forty feet long. When
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1907 The
Alarm, a life-size bronze figure, drew much praise
from both artists and critics ; it is now the property
“THE alarm” (BRONZE). BY E. CALDWELL SPRUCE
of Colonel E. A. Brotherton, whose portrait bust in
bronze by Mr. Spruce was well placed in this year’s
Academy. Mr. Spruce’s fine marble bust of Lord
Airedale is among the treasures of the Leeds City
Art Gallery, and he was commissioned to execute
the memorial tablet of Phil May (his personal
friend) placed upon the birthplace ; this was repro-
duced in The Studio.
Mr. Spruce is particularly happy not only in
catching an excellent likeness of his sitter but in
getting far more; the inner character is indicated
and the subtle expression and poise of head or
body closely observed and reproduced. He has
no faith in eccentricities though he is quite alive
to the merits of the best up-to-date sculpture. He
prefers to regard his work as something to be done
in a straightforward truthful manner with freedom
and breadth. F. K.
“THE ROISTERER” BY E. CALDWELL SPRUCE
280
a number of years, thereby gaining useful practical
knowledge of architectural and ceramic decorative
work. At this time he was also teaching modelling
at the Leeds School of Art. With a strong desire
to do work of higher order Mr. Spruce went to
Paris for serious study.
It was in 1905 that Mr. Spruce first exhibited at
the Paris Salon, the work being a bronze portrait
tablet. Returning to Leeds he thoroughly entered
into his career. His designs in competition were
accepted for part of the external decoration of the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Rio de Janeiro.
Of the four huge panels he executed for the
building two were each forty feet long. When
exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1907 The
Alarm, a life-size bronze figure, drew much praise
from both artists and critics ; it is now the property