R. B. (Roger) Sprague (September 12, 1937 – July 28, 2010) was an American Contemporary Realist artist.

Biography

Sprague was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in

south Arkansas South Arkansas lies within the southernmost portions of Arkansas Gulf Coastal Plain and Delta regions. It encompasses the lower 15 counties of the state. History In the 1920s, nationwide attention focused on South Arkansas when the Smackover Fi ...

, graduating from El Dorado High School. He attended the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

and graduated with a BA in Fine Arts, with majors in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, and finally, in painting. Sprague resided in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and worked as booking agent and shipboard companion for

United States Lines United States Lines was an organization of the United States Shipping Board's (USSB) Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all finances of t ...

. He lived for a year on

Swan's Island, Maine Swan's Island is an island town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is named after Colonel James Swan, of Fife, Scotland, who purchased the island and some surrounding areas and organized their colonization in the eighteenth century. Th ...

, where his father's family started life in the U.S. His conviction to make art his life and his living came to fruition in 1975 when he moved to

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, working briefly in Bosque Farms in a plant nursery, then moving to a one-room arrangement in Santa Fe in 1979 where he dedicated his life to his art. In 2010, Patricia Rovzar Gallery said:

R.B. Sprague is driven by his never-ending exploration of scale and light.
Painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
in oil on linen the majority of Sprague's work focuses on interior spaces and the relationships of the objects he places within those spaces. He defines his compositions with common objects like tables and chairs but always leaves ample room for the viewer to create their own interpretation.

In 1987, R.B. Sprague said in Southwest Art:

I paint what I see, and what attracts me is light and the
geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
it illuminates. When I see light on a surface at a particular moment. I think it will follow me for the rest of my life.

Exhibitions

*1995 J. Cacciola Galleries NYC *1994 "Realists", Jay Fletcher Gallery Santa Fe, NM *1994 J. Cacciola Galleries NYC *1993 Fletcher Gallery Santa Fe, NM *1992 J. Cacciola Galleries NYC *1992 "Small Paintings", J. Cacciola Galleries NYC *1992 "Summer Invitational Exhibition", J. Cacciola Galleries NYC *1990 Santa Fe East Santa Fe, NM *1990 Western Images Gallery NYC *1989 Santa Fe East Santa Fe, NM *1988 Western Images Gallery NYC *1987 "New Mexico Old and New", Santa Fe East Santa Fe, NM *1987 "Santa Fe Opera Annual Holiday Invitational", Santa Fe, NM *1986 "Quiet Realities II", Santa Fe East Santa Fe, NM *1986 "Inspirations: Churches of New Mexico", Museum of Fine Arts Santa Fe, NM *1986 "Arts at First Plymouth Ninth Annual", Englewood, CO *1985 "Artists of Santa Fe", Oklahoma City, OK *1981 Robert Nichols Gallery Santa Fe, NM *1980 South Arkansas Art Center El Dorado, AR

Selected major collections

* Museum of Fine Art *

References

External links

R.B. Sprague. In addition to his series of interiors, the artist has been painting more and more exteriors often incorporating landscapes.RB Sprague studio workVentana Fine Art: R.B. Sprague - PaintingsR.B. Sprague Fine Art Auctions upcoming for R.B. Sprague
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprague, R. B. 1937 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Painters from New York City Painters from Santa Fe, New Mexico American realist painters American modern artists El Dorado High School (Arkansas) alumni 20th-century American male artists