GROSS, Anthony

Anthony Gross (1905-1984) was a Britsih painter, illustrator, creator of animated cartoons, watercolourist and outstanding etcher. Born and lived in London and originally given the name Imre, Gross studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, at the Académie Julien, Paris, under Pierre Laurens, at the École des Beaux-Arts and in Madrid. Had his first one-man show at the Leicester Galleries in 1934, after which he had several dozen one-man shows in Britain and abroad. The Victoria and Albert Museum gave him a major retrospective in 1968. He also took part in many mixed exhibitions, including the RA, being elected a Royal Academician in 1980. Galleries holding his work include the Tate, British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Imperial War Museum. Was an Official War Artist in World War II in the Middle East, India and Europe.

By then he had married his French artist wife Marcelle (Daisy) Florenty, had travelled extensively in North Africa and Europe and had worked on animated cartoons, such as La Joie de Vivre, The Fox Hunt, for Alexander Korda, and Round the World in Eighty Days. Book illustrations included The Forsyte Saga and Six Idylls of Theocritus. Taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and at the Slade. Worked extensively in France, having bought a house at Le Boulvé in 1955. Wrote an authoritative book on Etching, Engraving and Intaglio Printing. North House Gallery, Mannintree, showed Gross’s paintings and etchings in 2002. Gross’s sister was the painter and cartographer Phyllis Pearsall.