Everett Franklin Spruce (American, 1908-2002). On Lake Buchanan, 1979. Acrylic on canvas. 40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 c...

Description

Everett Franklin Spruce (American, 1908-2002)
On Lake Buchanan, 1979
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Signed, dated, and titled on the stretcher: Everett Spruce / On Lake Buchanan / 1979

Born in Conway, Arkansas, Everrett Franklin Spruce studied with Olin Travis and Thomas Stell at the Dallas Art Institute. He exhibited at the Texas Centennial Exposition and in 1937 was the first Dallas artist to exhibit at New York's Delphic Studios. The Museum of Modern Art acquired a Spruce painting in 1939, and in 1940 he joined the faculty of the University of Texas.In the mid 1940s, Spruce began to paint often near Sanderson in West Texas. Transitioning from his more purely Regionalist works of the late 1930s with their devotion to the "Italian Primitives," Spruce became more and more focused on the rawness and brutality of the West Texas landscape. In his later works like On Lake Buchanan, 1979 and Desert Evening, 1985, the landscape becomes more abstract and plant forms more anthropomorphic. These expressive surfaces are simultaneously frenzied and ordered, creating a dynamic yet barely restrained energy. Lush colors contribute to the compelling and seductive mood of both works.

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