Edward Caldwell Spruce
{{Short description|English sculptor and artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
File:Grave of Sam Wilson, Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds (4459500335).jpg, Leeds]]
Edward Caldwell Spruce (1865England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 – 7 June 1922) was an English sculptor and artist who mainly worked in Leeds.{{cite news |title=A Leeds Sculptor. Death of Mr. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19220609/243/0009 |accessdate=12 February 2019 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=9 June 1922 |page=19 |url-access=subscription }}
Biography
Spruce was born in Knutsford, Cheshire in the summer of 1865.{{cite web |author=University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII|url=https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1207821986 |title=Edward Caldwell Spruce |year=2011|access-date= 14 January 2022|work=Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951}}[http://www.oakwoodchurch.info/Oak%20Leaves%20Part%209%20-%20Edward%20Caldwell%20Spruce%201866-1922%20and%20the%20Savage%20Club%20by%20Hilary%20Dyson.pdf Oak Leaves part 9, Autumn 2009] Edward Caldwell Spruce (1866-1922) and the Savage Club. Between 1891 and 1893 he was a student at the Leeds College of Art where he also taught clay modelling.
Spruce first worked at a local tile factory before moving to Burmantofts Pottery in Leeds, where he was the principal modeller.Burmantofts Pottery (1983) Bradford Art Gallery & Museums and Leeds City Museum p15 His work there includes some fine panels on the Midland Hotel, Manchester. He went to Paris to study art and exhibited a piece called "The Blind Man" at the 1908 Salon.{{citation|title=Catalogue Illustré. de Peinture et Sculpture. Salon de 1908. Societe des Artistes Francais}} He returned to Leeds to set up as a freelance artist with a studio in Chapeltown, Leeds. In this he was successful, performing numerous portrait commissions of contemporarary figures including a bust of the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Sir James Kitson.{{cite book|author=James Mackay|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1977|title=The Dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze |isbn= 0902028553}} Between 1906 and 1915 he exhibited at least four works at the Royal Academy in London. He also created the panels for the war memorial at Bailiff Bridge in West Yorkshire. Possibly Spruce's best known work is the 1918 large multi-figure memorial to the Leeds businessman Sam Wilson at Lawnswood Cemetery in Leeds. The monument is recognised by Historic England with a Grade II listing.{{NHLE |num=1375324 |desc=Memorial and grave of Sam Wilson at NGR 2678 3909|access-date=14 January 2022}}
Spruce was also a noted member of the Leeds branch of the Savage Club, becoming its "Indian Chief" (i.e. president) in 1912. He died in 1922 in Leeds.
References
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External links
{{Commons}}
- {{Art UK bio}}
- [http://www.artnet.com/artists/mark-senior/portrait-of-edward-caldwell-spruce-1865-1922-KssDOsTKm1bJVuc08bQTeQ2 Portrait of Edward Caldwell Spruce] by Mark Senior 1898
- [http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=200373_22980898 Photograph of Edward Caldwell Spruce]
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Category:19th-century English sculptors
Category:19th-century English male artists
Category:20th-century English sculptors
Category:20th-century English male artists
Category:Alumni of Leeds Arts University