Frank Sydney SPEARS

1906 - 1991

Paintings, watercolours and monotypes

 

Frank Spears 1962 cover invitation card Adler Fielding Galleries Johannesburg 20th Nov 1962

 

 

Brief Curriculum

Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, 4th August, 1906 - died at Bishops Waltham, Hampshire, on 25th March, 1991

Man of many parts: leading artist, stage and radio actor and broadcaster, designer of sailing dinghies and yachts.

President of the SA Society of Artists 1945-1947.

Studied art, music, drama and architectural design at Birmingham School of Art, later in London U.K., emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa, 1928, returned to the U.K. 1969, lived in Titchfield, Hants., then Meonstoke, Hants.

 

Frank Spears in front of his studio in Constantia, Cape Town, 1961 (img. FF Haenggi from slide)

Frank Spears in front of his studio in Constantia, Cape Town, 1961

 

Public Commissions

H.B. Thom Theatre, University of Stellenbosch (windows)

Stained glass windows by Frank Spears at the H.B. Thom Theatre, University of Stellenbosch

H.B. Thom Theatre - click on image or this link for more views!

DRC Kerksentrum, Cape Town (windows)

Church of the Resurrection, Bonteheuvel (altar piece "Risen Christ")

 

Biennale

São Paulo Biennale 1963 (included in South African entry)

Venice Biennale, 1966 (included in South African entry)

Frank Spears "Forest Interior" oil/board 61x73.5 cm exhibited at XXXIII Venice Biennale, 1966  (img. Strauss & Co.)

"Forest Interior" oil/board 61x73.5 cm - exhibited at XXXIII Venice Biennale, 1966

 

Works included in

1952 The Van Riebeeck Festival Exhibition, Cape Town

1960 Second Quadrennial of South African Art

1964 Third Quadrennial of South African Art

1966 Republic Festival Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Pretoria (May)

 

Selected one-man shows

1958 Lawrence Adler Galleries, Johannesburg (August)

1959 Lawrence Adler Galleries, Johannesburg (September)

1960 Lawrence Adler Galleries, Johannesburg (October)

1961 SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (June)

1961 Lawrence Adler Galleries, Johannesburg (October)

1962 Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (November)

1963 Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (October)

   1964 John Whibley Gallery, London

1964 Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (November)

1965 Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (October)

1966 Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (October)

1968 Gallery 101, Johannesburg (October)

1970 Gallery 101, Johannesburg (November)

1972 Gallery 101, Johannesburg (October)

1973 Drian Galleries, London W2

1973 Gallery 101, Johannesburg (October)

1974 Drian Galleries, London W2

1976 Collectors Gallery, Johannesburg (September)

1978 Drian Galleries, London W2 (June)

1980 Drian Galleries, London W2 (April)

1980 Gallery 21, Fox Street, Johannesburg (September)

1981 Hoffer Art Gallery, Pretoria (November)

 

Selected gallery group exhibitions

Adler Fielding Art Galleries, Johannesburg (Artists of Fame & Promise), 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962

1969 Gallery 101, Johannesburg - Top South African Artists (February)

1971 Gallery 101, Hollard Street, Johannesburg - 10 Cape Artists (February)

2009 SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch (Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years: Part 3) (June)

 

Works in Public and Corporate Collections

SA National Gallery, Cape Town

 

William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley

Frank Sydney SPEARS "Triptych" oil/panels (Coll. William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley; acq. 1033)

 

Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria

Frank Sydney SPEARS "Still-life with wine glasses" oil/board 37x46 cm (Coll. Pretoria Art Museum)

 

The Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa

---------------------------

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

---------------------------

 

SANLAM, Bellville

SASOL, Johannesburg

 

Selected paintings on the web

Frank Spears "Stillife with teapot" oil/board 44x54.5 cm (img. Philip Harper Galleries)     Frank Spears "Portrait of a Clown" oil/board 33.5x25 cm (img Bonhams)     Frank Spears "A Still Life of Roses" oil/board 43x58.5 cm (img Strauss & Co)

Click on images for better view or hover over images/view image info for details!

 

Bibliography

"The Naked Eye" (Koston) 1946 (David Lewis), p. 25

"Fontein", 1960 - Vol. 1, No. 1 (Winter): (Abstrakte rigtings in die Suid-Afrikaanse Skilderkuns) - p. 38

"Art in South Africa since 1900" (Balkema) 1962 (F.L. Alexander), p. 168

"South African Artists 1900-1962" (Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel) 1963 (Harold Jeppe), pp. 90/91, ill.

"Contemporaries/Tydgenote 1963" (SA Association of Arts, Pretoria), 1964 cat.

"Twentieth Century South African Art" (Human & Rousseau) 1966, Pl. XXXV, p. 73

Republic Festival May 1966 Exhibition, Pretoria, listed, nos. 261, 262

Hester Rupert Art Museum (Graaff-Reinet) Souvenir Catalogue, July 1966, cat. 65

ARTLOOK 16, Johannesburg 1968 March, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 10 ill.

ARTLOOK 23, Johannesburg 1968 October, pp. 2+3 ill.

"Century of South African Art 1869-1969" (Eljra Solomon), 1969 Lions International Johannesburg, exh. cat. 16, ill.

SANLAM Art Collection Exhibition (cat. to SANG + PAM exhibitions abt. 1969) (Bokhorst), ill.

"Art and Artists of South Africa" (Balkema) 1970 (Berman), pp. 118 ill., 280/1, ill.

"La Revue Française présente l'Afrique du Sud", June 1970 (Le musée d'Art de Pretoria) (Werth), p.

"The South African Art Market 1971/72" (Art Institute of South Africa, Johannesburg) 1972 (Berman), pp. 71+84

ARTLOOK 102, Johannesburg 1976 August/September, Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 22 ill.

"South African Art" (Macdonald SA) 1978 (James Ambrose Brown) ISBN 0 7967 0009 5, p. 38

"The Sasol Art Collection presented by the Rand Afrikaans University", 1988 exh. cat., no. 46, 191

„The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors including Namibia“ (Ogilvie / Graff) (Everard Read), 1988 – ISBN 0 620 12663 9 – listed on p. 625/6

"Art and Artists of South Africa" (Southern Book Publishers) 1994 (Berman), p. 434, ill.

"ABSA Group Corporate Art Collection 1900-1997" (Loedolff/Basson) (ABSA), 1997, ill. p24

"Guide to the Pretoria Art Museum" (A.J. Werth), undated, p. 16

„The Advancement of Art“: The South African Society of Artists and its exhibitors 1902-1950 (Hayden Proud) (Iziko), 2002, text + ill. p. 51 – ISBN 1-874817-31-6

 

Selected auctions

Sotheby's, Johannesburg (The Ben + Cecilia Jaffe Collection) - 21st October, 1981 - Lot 193, 194, 195

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 16th October,1986 (Esmé Berman Coll.) - Lot 174

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 8th May, 1995 - Lot 30

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 7th May, 2001 - Lot 369

Sotheby's / Welz, Cape Town - 18th March 2002 - Lot 351, 352

Sotheby's / Welz, Cape Town - 15th October, 2002 - Lot 452, 453

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 12th May, 2003 - Lot 73

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 21st October, 2003 - Lot 600, 632

Sotheby's / Welz, Cape Town - 4th November, 2003 - Lot 703, 704

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 15th November, 2004 - Lot 161, 337

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 18th April, 2005 - Lot 127, 139

Sotheby's / Welz, Cape Town - 10th/11th October, 2005 - Lot 299, 1149

Sotheby's / Welz, Johannesburg - 16th April, 2007 - Lot 306, 307

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 19th February, 2008 - Lot 216

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 15th April, 2008 - Lot 304

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 27th May, 2008 - Lot 127

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 1st June, 2010 - Lot 200

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 22nd February, 2011 - Lot 638, 639

Stephan Welz & Co., Cape Town - 31st May/1st June, 2011 - Lot 527

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 16th August, 2011 - Lot  413

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 24th April, 2012 - Lot 494

Stephan Welz & Co., Cape Town - 29th May, 2012 - Lot 334, 337

---------------------------

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 9th March, 2009 - Lot 131, 132, 138

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 7th September, 2009 - Lot 20, 135

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Cape Town - 8th October, 2009 - Lot 109

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Cape Town - 11th October, 2010 - Lot 200

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Cape Town - 7th March, 2011 - Lot 262

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 16th May, 2011 - Lot 103

Strauss & Co. Fine Art Auctioneers, Cape Town - 18th September, 2011 - Lot 174, 175, 179, 184

Strauss & Co., Johannesburg - 7th November, 2011 - Lot 111, 113

Strauss & Co., Cape Town - 6th February, 2012 - Lot 543

Strauss & Co., Johannesburg - 12th June, 2012 - Lot 184, 186, 200, 210, 247

---------------------------

Bonhams, Knightsbridge, London - 9th September, 2008 - Lot 90

Bonhams, Knightsbridge, London - 17th February, 2009 - Lot 69, 109

Bonhams, Knightsbridge, London - 13th October, 2009 - Lot 100

---------------------------

Phillips de Pury & Co., London - 1998 - Lots 311, 317

---------------------------

Addisons Auctioneers, Barnard Castle DL, UK - 9th February, 2008 - Lot 275

---------------------------

Weschler's Auctioneers, Washington DC - 17th April, 2010 - Lot 551, 552, 553, 554

Weschler's Auctioneers, Washington DC - 25th September, 2010 - Lot 727, 728

Weschler's Auctioneers, Washington DC - 30th November, 2010 - Lot 508, 529

---------------------------

McKenzie's Auctioneers, Claremont W.A. - 17th August, 2005 - Lot 118

---------------------------

5th Avenue Auctioneers, Johannesburg - May, 2008 - Lot 81

5th Avenue Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 13th May, 2012 - Lot 200, 215

---------------------------

Westgate Walding Auctioneers, Johannesburg - various items since 2000 including Lot 392 on 31st March, 2010 + Lot 421 on 30th March, 2011

---------------------------

Ashbey's Auctioneers, Cape Town - various items since 2002

---------------------------

Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Johannesburg - August 2010 - Lot 62

Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 28th May, 2011 - Lot P84

Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 2nd July, 2011 - Lot P45

Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 13th August, 2011 - Lot P38

Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 17th September, 2011 - Lot P41

Russell Kaplan Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 3rd August, 2013 - Lot P71

 

---------------------------

Bernardi's Auctioneers, Pretoria - 11th April, 2011 - Lot 719

 

---------------------------

Provenance Auctions, Cape Town - 28th March, 2012 - Volume 4 Lot 97, 205

 

---------------------------

 

Selected press reviews, exhibition catalogues and publications

Gallery 21 Johannesburg - Exhibition catalogue 23.9. - 6.10.1980

The Citizen, Johannesburg - 4th October, 1980

The Star, Johannesburg - 13th October, 1981

            "Frank Spears - The Painter" (Sutherland)  (MJ + RM Spears, Hout Bay ), 2014 - ISBN  978-0-620-62207-3

 

Web references - General

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sydney_Spears

http://dbpedia.org/page/Frank_Sydney_Spears

www.pelmama.org - do an internal search for "Spears"!

 

Memorial site uploaded by the family

 

You need to have the free Adobe Reader to read the many PDF files!

 

 

updated to 23rd April, 2015

Return to Home Page