Spruance's Hands presents a nude viewed from above, the figure’s raised arms (her titular hands gripping her hair) and angular pose transforming the body into a sculptural composition of intersecting planes rendered in blocks of ocher, blue, and rust. The nude’s taut musculature, the compressed space, and the bold contours reveal the artist's architectural training and his mastery of structure and rhythm in form. Known primarily for his lithographs, Spruance here explores form and physical presence through oil, revealing the same disciplined design and expressive gravity that marked his graphic art.
Spruance was born in Philadelphia and became one of the city's leading artists and a pioneer in color lithography. After taking architectural classes at the University of Pennsylvania, he earned a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). In the 1920s and 1930s, Spruance was known for prints that chronicled the lives of ordinary people. In the 1940s, he began producing moody, psychologically charged portraits of women, followed by mystically tinged work based on biblical passages that became increasingly subtle and sculptural in effect. Spruance remained dedicated to teaching throughout his career. He taught at what is now Arcadia University, serving as chairman of the Fine Arts department for thirty-four years, and later became director of graphic arts at the Philadelphia College of Art (later the University of the Arts). His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
