11 Facts About Ruskin Spear

Ruskin Spear, CBE, RA was an English painter and teacher of art, regarded as one of the foremost British portrait painters of his day.

Ruskin Spear is the father of Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band member Roger Ruskin Spear.

Ruskin Spear contracted polio at the age of two, and later attended the local Brook Green School, a London County Council school for the "Physically Defective".

Ruskin Spear attended the local art school before going on to the Royal College of Art in 1930.

Ruskin Spear began his teaching career at Croydon School of Art, later teaching at the Royal College of Art from 1948 to 1975, where his students included Sandra Blow.

Ruskin Spear rendered the citizens of Hammersmith relaxing in and around the local pubs, theatres and shops.

In 1980, a retrospective of Ruskin Spear's work was held at the Royal Academy in London.

Ruskin Spear's paintings are held in important public collections in the United Kingdom, including the Tate Gallery Collection, Arts Council England, National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, Government Art Collection and the Royal Academy of Arts, and worldwide.

Ruskin Spear was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979.

Roger Ruskin Spear would find fame in the 1960s, as a member of the Satirical group The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Ruskin Spear died in Hammersmith on 16 January 1990, at the age of 78.