Samuel Robin Spark

Samuel Robin Spark (9 July 1938 – 6 August 2016) was a Scottish artist. He was the son of Sidney Oswald Spark and writer Muriel Spark.

Prolific in his work, he created more than 1,000 paintings, photographs, and short texts and articles about art, Jewish culture, and his family.

Early life Spark was born in Southern Rhodesia, then a British colony, to Sidney and Muriel Spark. His parents had met in Edinburgh at a dance, and his father later travelled to Southern Rhodesia, where he worked as a teacher. Muriel had joined Sidney in 1937, and Robin was born the following July in Bulawayo. The marriage soon deteriorated as Sidney, who was 13 years Muriel's senior, suffered from manic depression and had violent tendencies. Sidney refused to divorce Muriel, so Muriel left him, taking Robin with her. They moved first to Cape Town, living in a flat below Princess Frederica of Greece and the young Constantine.

In 1944, towards the end of WW2, Muriel returned to the UK by means of a troopship, but was unable to secure passage for the six-year-old Robin, who was left in the care of convent nuns in Central Africa. In September 1945, Muriel brought Robin to Edinburgh. She then went to London to seek work, leaving Robin to be raised by Muriel's parents, the Cambergs, in their flat in Morningside/Bruntsfield.

In 1989, Spark was awarded an Israel Zangwill scholarship.

Solo exhibitions Sternberg Centre for Judaism, London & University Staff Club, Edinburgh Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh Jewish Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation Community Centre Leith A1 Gallery and Marchmont Studios, Edinburgh Pen & Ink Miniatures, Kelly's Gallery, Edinburgh Peter Potter Gallery, Haddington & Rachel's, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh International Festival The Brass Rail & La Grande Cafetier, Edinburgh Dunedin Gallery, Edinburgh Creelers, Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Leo Beck center London W.A.S.P.S., Studios Patriothall Gallery

Works shown Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, Heriot-Watt University, The Chantry, Co. Wexford, City of Aberdeen Art Gallery, Blue & White Gallery & Associates, Jerusalem, Florida, Buenos Aires, Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours, Edinburgh Printmakers' workshop, Morrison Award, Hebrew Society of Argentina sparing 1992 Art Exhibition, Society of Scottish Artists, WASPS.

Permanent collections Heriot-Watt University Sternberg Centre Muriel's brother Philip, who had become actively Jewish, agreed with her version of the family's history. During one of her last book signings in Edinburgh, she told a journalist who asked if she would see her son again: "I think I know how best to avoid him by now."