Anthony Earnshaw (9 October 1924 – 17 August 2001) was an English

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

, artist, author and illustrator. Earnshaw was born in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

, West Yorkshire. His father, a watchmaker and jeweller, died before he was born. His mother ran the family shop until it went bankrupt in 1930, when they moved first to

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

and then to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. Earnshaw attended

Harehills Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 (towards Wetherby) and the A64 (towards York). It sits in the Gipton & Ha ...

School in Leeds until the age of 14. He worked as an engineering fitter, and later as a lathe turner and a crane driver, while educating himself at Leeds City Library. At 20 he became interested in

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

and, with his lifelong friend Eric Thacker, devised surreal activities such as boarding and alighting from trains at random. In the early 1960s he met several other like-minded people, including Patrick Hughes,

Ian Breakwell Ian Breakwell (26 May 1943 in Long Eaton, Derbyshire – 14 October 2005 in London) was a world-renowned British fine artist. He was a prolific artist who took a multi-media approach to his observation of society. Early life Breakwell was ...

and Glen Baxter. Hughes persuaded Earnshaw to hold a retrospective at the Leeds Institute in 1966, which was followed by an exhibition in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, ''The Enchanted Domain,'' to which he was invited by John Lyle. He began teaching part-time, first at the

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

School of Art, then at

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Art School, before leaving engineering altogether in 1972 to take up a fellowship at Leeds Polytechnic. He left teaching in 1985 to concentrate on art. In 1968 Earnshaw collaborated with Thacker on an illustrated novel, '' Musrum'', which was not commercially successful, but has become a cult classic. The book is a fantasy, peppered with aphorisms ("Sudden prayers make God jump"), and tells the story of the title character's kingdom and of his battle with the nefarious Weedking. It was followed in 1971 by a sequel, '' Wintersol'', about the secret criminal nature of

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

. Both books were praised for their elegant writing, wit and wordplay, and especially for their sheer invention. Later publications included a cartoon in the '' Times Educational Supplement'', a wheeled bird named Wokker, and books of aphorisms, the largest being '' Flick Knives and Forks'' in 1982. In the 1980s and 1990s Earnshaw began making art boxes, further exemplifying his loyalty to Surrealism. Earnshaw died in 2001. He was survived by his second wife, Gail, and by two daughters from his first marriage.

References

External links

Website on Anthony Earnshaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earnshaw, Anthony 1924 births 2001 deaths People from Ilkley English anarchists English short story writers English illustrators English sculptors English male sculptors Crane operators English male short story writers 20th-century British sculptors English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers