Ruskin Spear, Professor Carel Weight 1961
© Tate
Display caption
Carel Weight and Ruskin Spear both taught at the Royal College of Art, where this portrait was painted. A painting by David Hockney, who was then one of Weight’s pupils, rests on an easel in the background.
Spear rarely idealises the people in his portraits. Here he shows Weight with dropping shoulders, ruffled hair and a dream-like expression on his face. By painting in this objective style, Spear communicates his empathy and, in this case, his close friendship with the sitter.
September 2004
Other works of art you may be interested in
Find similar artworks
Artist
Ruskin Spear
(4)
Category
Painting
(5,322)
Decade
1960-9
(3,039)
Subject
interiors
(2,405)
public and municipal
(355)
classroom
(15)
workspaces
(368)
studio
(145)
objects
(12,243)
clothing and personal effects
(3,860)
spectacles
(126)
fine arts and music
(1,753)
easel
(49)
people
(21,186)
actions: postures and motions
(6,764)
standing
(2,263)
portraits: male
(1,463)
Hockney, David
(6)
Weight, Carel
(2)
places
(23,428)
UK London
(1,178)
UK countries and regions
(10,976)
England
(8,180)
work and occupations
(5,206)
arts and entertainment
(1,300)
artist, painter
(338)