Scene in a park

Anthony Gross was born in Dulwich in 1905, the son of a suffragette playwright mother and Hungarian born father who ran a map-publishing business. It was in his father's workshop that the artist first encountered printmaking techniques and developed a precocious talent for the medium, selling an impression of his first published etching in 1921 to his headmaster while still a schoolboy. By 1924 he had already exhibited plates at the Paris Salon and at the Royal Academy. He continued his training in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and in Madrid. Eventually Gross settled in France but made frequent visits back to England. From 1948 to1954 he taught etching at the Central School, and from 1954 to 1976 at the Slade, returning to France during the holidays.

Gross's best work dates from the 1930s and combines strong draughtsmanship with whimsical observation. The present etching which shows a scene in The Regent's Park, London is an excellent example, with its humorous and sympathetic observation of everyday life and delight in incident that recalls Gross's involvement with animated films.