Biography from Roger King Fine Art, A - G:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
Roy Cross was born in London and began his career during World War II
as a technical illustrator for training manuals. After the war,
he became a freelance artist and a respected journalist and illustrator
of aircraft subjects.
Primarily self-taught, Cross studied briefly at the Camberwell School
of Arts and Crafts and at St. Martin's School of Fine Arts in
London. He achieved renown in the 1960s while working for Airfix,
the celebrated maker of aircraft models whose name is synonymous in the
United Kingdom with plane models.
Cross joined the Society of Aviation Artists in 1952, but became
interested in historic marine painting after seeing the work of
Montague Dawson. In 1973 Cross had his first one-man show at
London's Malcolm Henderson Gallery. He was elected to the Royal
Society of Marine Artists in 1977.
His paintings are popular in America with collectors who appreciate his
craft and attention to detail. When executing commissions, Cross
travels when necessary to study the settings for the painting and makes
extensive museum trips to research the accuracy of the vessels.
Many of his works are based on historical themes of the 19th
century. In addition to their specificity and historical
accuracy, Cross' works are characterized by crispness and clarity.
His paintings are in collections of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,
Massachusetts, the U.S.S. Constitution Museum in Boston, and the
Ventura County Marine Museum in Oxnard, California. |
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