The Battle of Egypt, 1942- Inside an Armoured Command Vehicle in Action Art

Battle of Arakan, 1943- Overlooking Japanese Positions at Rathedaung Art

British Troops and Vehicles on the Deck of a US Landing Ship Tank Art

Anthony Imre Alexander Gross (19 March 1905 – 8 September 1984) was a British

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

, painter, war artist and film director of Hungarian-Jewish, Italian, and Anglo-Irish descent.Thomas, Ronan
West End at War: Anthony Gross
Retrieved 8 April 2012

Early life and work

Anthony Gross was born in 1905, at Dulwich, London, the son of the Hungarian cartographer and founder of Geographia Ltd, Alexander Gross (1880–1958), and

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Isabelle Crowley (1886-1938). His sister was the artist, writer and publisher

Phyllis Pearsall Phyllis Isobella Pearsall MBE (25 September 1906 – 28 August 1996) was a British painter and writer who founded the Geographers' A-Z Map Company, for which she is regarded as one of the most successful business people of the twentieth cen ...

.Anthony Gross Prints
. Retrieved 8 April 2012 He attended Shrewsbury House School and later Repton School until 1922, and from the following year studied at the Slade School of Fine Art under

Henry Tonks Henry Tonks, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS (9 April 1862 – 8 January 1937) was a British surgeon and later draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a Caricature, caricaturist. He became an influentia ...

. Later studies were at the

Central School of Art and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cra ...

, London, the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and the Academia de San Fernando, Madrid. In 1925 he studied within life classes and as an engraver at

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris. Following study, Gross painted and produced intaglio prints in Spain, painted in Brussels, and in 1928 returned to work in Paris, and other parts of France, working entirely from life. While in France he developed a working relationship with

Józef Hecht Józef Hecht (14 December 1891 – 19 June 1951), also known as Joseph Hecht, was a printmaker and painter. Born and educated in Poland, he made Paris his base from 1920. Trained in classical engraving techniques, Hecht was a founder of "Atelier ...

and

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of ...

. During the early 1930s he exhibited in Paris galleries, becoming a member of the La Jeune Gravure Contemporaine, designed costumes and settings for ballet, and worked with composer

Tibor Harsányi Tibor Harsányi (June 27, 1898 in Magyarkanizsa, Kingdom of Hungary – September 19, 1954 in Paris) was a Hungarian-born composer and pianist. He studied at the Budapest Conservatory under Zoltán Kodály. He toured as a pianist around Europe ...

. He co-directed the short film ''La Joie de vivre'' with Hector Hoppin in 1934.Artoftheprint.com: Anthony Gross
Retrieved 8 April 2012 Returning to Britain in 1934, Gross worked on animated films, illustrated a 1929 edition of Jean Cocteau's '' Les Enfants Terribles'' and became an

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

for London Films. In 1937 he returned to work in Paris. Gross had married Villeneuve fashion artist Marcelle Marguerite Florenty in 1930; their children were Mary (b. 1935) and Jean-Pierre (b. 1937). In 1940 he brought his family from France to England, to live at Flamstead,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

Second World War

Through advocacy by Eric Kennington to the War Artists' Advisory Committee, Gross was offered, and accepted, the role of an official war artist, and produced etchings and oil and watercolour paintings of English coastal defences and troop training. In 1941, with a temporary commission of captain, Gross was attached to the 9th Army and painted within the Egyptian, Syrian, Palestinian, Kurdistan, Lebanese, and Mesopotamian theatres of war, sometimes accompanied by other war artists

Edward Ardizzone Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, (16 October 1900 – 8 November 1979), who sometimes signed his work "DIZ", was an English painter, print-maker and war artist, and the author and illustrator of books, many of them for children. For ''Tim All ...

and

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

, and later documenting the 8th Army's North African Campaign. From 1943 he transferred to India and Burma to witness the front line battle against the Japanese; these works were the subject of a one-man exhibition at the National Gallery when he returned to England. Later, in 1944 and 1945, an exhibition of 51 of these drawings, entitled ''India in Action'', toured Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Gross accompanied the

D-Day invasion The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

of Northern France, wading ashore near Arromanches at 2pm on D-Day. He sketched the

beachhead A beachhead is a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a landing beach by sea and begins to defend the area as other reinforcements arrive. Once a large enough unit is assembled, the invading force can begin advancing inland. The ...

landings and spent the night in a slit trench on the beach before moving inland the next day. Gross recorded the devastation of

Bayeux Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...

and

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, He witnessed the meeting of American and Russian forces at the River Elbe on 25 April 1945. Gross was, at the time, one of the many war artists who painted a portrait of

General Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and ...

Post war

Following the war, Gross returned to working in London, in Chelsea, Greenwich and

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

, while in the mid-1950s working partly in Le Boulvé. He produced lithographs for

J. Lyons and Co. J. Lyons & Co. was a British restaurant Chain store, chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons (caterer), Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore Gluckstein, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein. Lyons’ ...

, and illustrated editions of '' Wuthering Heights'' and '' The Forsyte Saga''. In 1954 he designed the dust jacket for the first edition of '' Lord of the Flies''. From 1948 to 1954 he was a life drawing tutor at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, afterwards becoming Head of Printing at the Slade School of Fine Art. From 1948 to 1971 Gross's work was exhibited in London and New York in one-man shows and as part of The London Group. In 1965 he became the first president of the

Printmakers Council The London-based Printmakers Council, founded in 1965, aims to promote the art of printmaking (through providing information, encouraging co-operation and holding exhibitions) and the work of contemporary printmakers. Their office is situated in ...

. He became an honorary member of the

Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...

in 1979, the same year being elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy; becoming a Senior Academician in 1981, and receiving an CBE in 1982. In 1965-66 Gross was a

Minneapolis School of Art The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

visiting professor.

Public collections

Gross's works held in public collections include the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, University of Leeds,

Leeds Museums & Galleries Leeds Museums and Galleries is a museum service run by the Leeds City Council in West Yorkshire. It manages nine sites and is the largest museum service in England and Wales run by a local authority. Visitor attractions * Abbey House Museum *Ki ...

Scarborough Art Gallery Scarborough Art Gallery is an art gallery in the English town of Scarborough. It is housed in a Grade II* Italianate villa in Scarborough’s Crescent, designed by Richard Hey Sharp (1793-1853). The gallery is administered by the Scarborough ...

Huddersfield Art Gallery The Huddersfield Art Gallery is an art gallery in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, northern England. It is currently owned and operated by Kirklees Council. History The building was built in 1937 and opened as a library and art gallery in 1940 ...

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

and the Tate Gallery, London, and the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, Oxford; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne;

Graphische Sammlung Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

, Vienna;

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

, New Zealand; the South African National Gallery, Cape Town; the Kunstmuseum, Basel; the National Gallery of Norway, Oslo; the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

, Québec; the Cabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Rome; the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, Amsterdam; the Louvre and the Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, and the Smithsonian Institution and the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington DC, USA. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

Bibliography

* Mayne, Jonathan, ''Anthony Gross'' (1949. Art & Technics) * Mayne, Jonathan, 'The Graphic Work of Anthony Gross', in ''Image''; 4 (1950 Spring), pp. 31–48 * Erskin, Robert, ''Anthony Gross 8 Etchings'' (1956. St Georges Gallery Prints) * Gross, Anthony, ''Etching, Engraving and Intaglio Printing'' (1970. Oxford U.P.) * Gross, Anthony, ''Battle Lines'' (1981. Imperial War Museum) * Graham, Rigby, ''Anthony Gross'' (1988. Goldmark Gallery) * Lee, Jane, ''Anthony Gross: Paintings, Drawings and Prints'' (1989. Ashmolean) * Herdman, Robin, ''The Prints of Anthony Gross: Catalogue Raisonne'' (1991. Scolar Press; illustrated.) * Colescot, Warrington, ''Progressive Printmakers: Wisconsin Artists and the Print Renaissance'' (1999. University of Wisconsin Press; illustrated) * Ramkalawon, Jennifer, ''Anthony Gross RA 1905-1984 - Early Paintings and Prints, A Centenary Exhibition'' (2005. Redfern Gallery, London) * Windsor, Alan; Flemming, Rhiannon, ''Anthony Gross RA 1905-1984: Paintings and Prints from the 1950s'' (2010. Redfern Gallery, London)

References

External links

Works by Gross in the Imperial War Museum
(345 images at 3 June 2016) * * ; animated film by Anthony Gross and Hector Hoppin (1934) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Anthony 1905 births 1984 deaths Military personnel from London 20th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century British printmakers Academics of the Central School of Art and Design Academics of University College London Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière Académie Julian alumni Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design British alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art English illustrators English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent British people of Irish descent English people of Italian descent British war artists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English film directors English printmakers Modern printmakers Painters from London People educated at Repton School People from Flamstead People from East Dulwich Royal Academicians World War II artists British Army General List officers British Army personnel of World War II Olympic competitors in art competitions 20th-century English male artists