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for Edward Bruce
American, 1879 - 1943
Bruce was educated in the New York public schools, and then spent 1890 to 1894 in the study of painting with J. Francis Murphy and Arthur Parton. He then abandoned painting to enter Columbia University, from which he received his bachelor's degree in 190l, and law degree in 1904. He practicing law in New York for a few years, then went to the Phillippines where he lobbied for the Philippine Independence Bill. Next he went to China where he became president of the Pacific Development Company--and formed a collection of Chinese paintings.
However, by 192l, when his work was included in a group show at Bourgeois Galleries, New York, his interest in painting had clearly revived. Critical response to his work in this exhibition was favorable. With that encouragement he went abroad, where he studied with Maurice Sterne in Anticoli Corrado in Italy, and spent summers in the Frence countryside. Exhibitions of his works were held in New York in 1925 at Scott & Fowles Gallery, and in 1927 at the New Gallery; both shows were sold out. Bruce specialized in landscape painting. His forms were simplified and geometricized, and his colors clear and bright.
In 1929 he had a one man show in Paris at the Galerie Th. Briant, from which the French government purchased Farm in Savoie for the Mus‚e du Luxembourg. That same year he received a first honorable mention at the Carnegie International. After his Paris exhibition, he moved to California; there he painted a mural in the boardroom of the San Francisco Stock Exchange.
In 1933, Bruce served as a silver expert on the American delegation to the London Economic Conference. Returning to Washington, he established and organized the Section of Fine Arts, incorporated under the Treasury Department, one of the several federal arts projects spawned in response to the Great Depression. The Treasury Department bureau commissioned art for public buildings.
However, by 192l, when his work was included in a group show at Bourgeois Galleries, New York, his interest in painting had clearly revived. Critical response to his work in this exhibition was favorable. With that encouragement he went abroad, where he studied with Maurice Sterne in Anticoli Corrado in Italy, and spent summers in the Frence countryside. Exhibitions of his works were held in New York in 1925 at Scott & Fowles Gallery, and in 1927 at the New Gallery; both shows were sold out. Bruce specialized in landscape painting. His forms were simplified and geometricized, and his colors clear and bright.
In 1929 he had a one man show in Paris at the Galerie Th. Briant, from which the French government purchased Farm in Savoie for the Mus‚e du Luxembourg. That same year he received a first honorable mention at the Carnegie International. After his Paris exhibition, he moved to California; there he painted a mural in the boardroom of the San Francisco Stock Exchange.
In 1933, Bruce served as a silver expert on the American delegation to the London Economic Conference. Returning to Washington, he established and organized the Section of Fine Arts, incorporated under the Treasury Department, one of the several federal arts projects spawned in response to the Great Depression. The Treasury Department bureau commissioned art for public buildings.
