Ruskin Spear
Here’s another story or two about my father’s past. This time in relation to Ruskin Spear who was a lifelong friend of Dad’s since the 1930’s when they first met at the Royal College of Art. Over the years they would meet and entertain each other. Dad even wrote a monograph on Ruskin in 1985. What made me think about Ruskin was recently finding a drawing in a sketch book of Spear by Dad.
This made me look for a portrait I remember that Ruskin did of Dad and I went in search of it. I always remember it annoyed Dad because Ruskin deliberately gave him slightly crossed eyes. Ruskin told him he he looked like a lion with his full head of hair and beard and now he looked like Clarence the cross-eyed lion, who had been a celebrity in a 1960’s TV programme called Daktari.
Dad begged him to change the eyes but Ruskin was not for turning!
Dad then drew this portrait/caricature of Ruskin in a party hat which Ruskin approved of as he signed it and gave him the paper hat he had made, which is portrayed in the drawing. I think they both liked annoying each other with their drawings and who knows what may turn up in other sketch books. I will keep on the lookout! But the one thing I can say for certainty is that Ruskin and Dad were always playful and messing about together. They enjoyed each other’s company and saw a lot more of each other as they got older. They knew each other a long time and their friendship grew stronger.
There will be some Ruskin pieces that will appear on the site in the coming months and this football painting is one of my favourites. Ruskin truly was a modern master.
