(1911-90) Ruskin Spear studied art at Hammersmith and then the Royal College of Art until 1935, when he started teaching at Croydon School of Art. He taught at the RCA between 1948-1975. Spear always observed life and the local characters with the greatest interest and was able to paint them relaxing as he was so well known and respected in his local pub. He was loath to travel far from his wife and family. From his wheelchair he studied life and the people around him, with a skill that ranks him at the top of twentieth century painters, on a par with his predecessors Hogarth, Gilray, Rowlandson, Sickert and Lowry, who was a friend.