Benton Murdoch Spruance

1904 - 1967

BiographyBenton Murdoch Spruance was born in Philadelphia in 1904 and is primarily known as a lithographer of social, mythological and religious subject matter. He was an expert technician in color lithography and was also known for his landscape and genre paintings. He attended architectural classes at the University of Pennsylvania where he developed an interest in graphic sketching. This interest led him to win a competitive scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Spruance won a number of awards and fellowships, including two Cresson Scholarships to travel in Europe and two Guggenheim grants. In 1967 the Philadelphia College of Art held a retrospective exhibition of his lithographs in recognition of his achievements as an artist and a member of their faculty.

Spruance served for a number of years on the Philadelphia Arts Commission and was the Chairman of the Arts Department of Beaver College in Jenkintown. He was also the chairman of the Printmaking Department of the Philadelphia College of Art. Spruance died at the age of 63 in 1967.
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