Description
Matthew Wyllie Bruce died on 8 June 2000. He was at Varndean from 1948 to 1972 and was a distinguished impressionist artist.
An obituary in the Old Varndeanian Newsletter that year recalled among other things that:
"Although he was not a big man and of modest height, Matt was the type of person who could turn heads when he entered a room. He could be impetuous, physically brave and a fiercely competitive sportsman.
Early in his marriage, his wife, Peggy, despatched him to buy a loaf of bread. He returned with an Armstrong Siddeley Limousine. His son, Gordon, remembers waking in the night to find Matt standing in his pyjamas,
blood pouring from his feet, talking to a policeman. Matt had, barefoot, had chased a burglar over flinty ground.
Gordon remembers that his father "thought table
tennis was a body-contact sport". His sports prowess dated from his days at Dollar College in
Clackmannanshire. He captained the school rugby team before representing Scotland at junior level, and then the Army. He was also an impressive exhibition diver.
Matt was born in Shanghai on 17 November 1915. His
father was a Scottish textile entrepreneur, his mother, Frida, being of German extraction. Aged 11 when his father died, Matt was sent to Scotland to be educated. After showing talent as a painter, Matt won an Andrew Grant scholarship to Edinburgh College of Art.
There he studied under the landscape artist William Gillies. He trained as a teacher, then did his war service in the 79th Highland Division of the Royal Artillery.
While instructing in Devon, he was blown up by a
mortar bomb. In spite of being given only 24 hours to live, he recovered quickly and fully. Matt was tough.
In 1944, he married Peggy Risk. After the war, they lived in Jersey, where he was art master at Victoria College, St Helier. Matt joined Varndean as Head of Art in 1948. He became one of the three Senior Masters at Varndean, under E.J.Hutchins, and retired in 1972, to devote himself to painting for the next 28 years. His work is known for its light and colour, and has been shown at the Royal Academy, the Royal West of England Academy, and the Royal Society of British Artists. It is also to be seen in several corporate collections, including those of Bank of America, De Beers, Legal & General, Mazda, Sanyo, Shell and Whitbread."
Reserve: $150.00
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Condition
Used
Buyer's Premium
20%
MATT BRUCE (British 1915-2000) City Scene w Figures, Cars & Church oil painting
Estimate $200-$250
Starting Price
$150
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Prints and Fine Art
Jul 30, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTNew York, NY, United States
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