Frank Sydney SPEARS
1906 - 1991
Paintings, watercolours and monotypes
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
Public Commissions
H.B. Thom Theatre, University of Stellenbosch (windows)
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)
"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
The Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa
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University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
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SANLAM, Bellville
SASOL, Johannesburg
Selected paintings on the web
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
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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
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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
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Phillips de Pury & Co., London - 1998 - Lots 311, 317
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Addisons Auctioneers, Barnard Castle DL, UK - 9th February, 2008 - Lot 275
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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
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McKenzie's Auctioneers, Claremont W.A. - 17th August, 2005 - Lot 118
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5th Avenue Auctioneers, Johannesburg - May, 2008 - Lot 81
5th Avenue Auctioneers, Johannesburg - 13th May, 2012 - Lot 200, 215
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Westgate Walding Auctioneers, Johannesburg - various items since 2000 including Lot 392 on 31st March, 2010 + Lot 421 on 30th March, 2011
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Ashbey's Auctioneers, Cape Town - various items since 2002
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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
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Bernardi's Auctioneers, Pretoria - 11th April, 2011 - Lot 719
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Provenance Auctions, Cape Town - 28th March, 2012 - Volume 4 Lot 97, 205
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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
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updated to 23rd April, 2015