Anthony Green RA NEAC LG Hon RBA Hon ROI passed away on 14 February 2023 after a short illness. He was a much-loved member and supporter of the NEAC, as testified in the tributes below from his fellow members.
Born in 1939, Anthony went to The Slade from 1956 to 1960 where he met the love of his life Mary Cozens-Walker. He went on to become a Royal Academician as well as a member of the LG, RBA and ROI. His wonderful large quirky irregularly shaped narrative paintings have been a highlight of our annual exhibitions since he was elected to the NEAC in 2002.
Many have commented how touching and fitting it is that he should pass away on Valentine’s Day, which was also the opening day of his exhibition of ‘Lockdown Love Letters’ to Mary, who died in 2020 . . .
Charles Williams:
‘I loved Anthony. It was one of the best moments of my NEAC time when he was elected, because it seemed to pull the NEAC toward a more inclusive, figurative identity and away from – if you’ll forgive me – the British Impressionist one. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that my own work doesn’t fit the profile. Broadening the profile could have led to the NEAC becoming what Lewis McNaught seemed to want the Mall to be – the natural home of the broad church of figurative painting. Still, it wasn’t to be. We had fun talking about it though.
One of my favourite memories of him is unexpectedly meeting at a private view one evening in a gallery in Islington. We had such a lot to say to each other that when it finished, we got into a cab and went back to my old house in Hackney where we carried on, over a frankfurter stir fry that Anna made for us. He was full of scurrilous information. One thing he said a few times was, “You’d be surprised how many people you think are successful and well-off artists who go home to a tea of half a tin of baked beans,” which I loved. And if he’d had a few glasses of wine, sometimes he’d tell you who he was talking about.’
Richard Sorrell:
‘I remember seeing Anthony Green walking with his wife on Primrose Hill back in the 1970s. He was a semi-mythical figure to me in those days – a hero of figurative painting in a time when figurative painting was besieged by abstraction, at a time when content was frowned upon and one was always at risk of being dismissed as 'illustrational'.
Green's work sidestepped such criticism by being powerful and confident and utterly personal. He painted his life and his family's life. He was a master of composition and a bold colourist. He drew strength from primitive painting and his pictures are endlessly fascinating and original.
I grew to know Anthony after his election to the NEAC. There was a talk about painting that Charles Williams and I gave at Mall Galleries, and Anthony was supposed to take part. He missed the time, however, and arrived as we were finishing. He was very apologetic and insisted that we all go round to the Two Chairmen, where we spent an amusing afternoon and Anthony drank lots of red wine and told us stories about his life.
In 2016, Anthony suggested that I should show my pictures at Wolfson College in Cambridge, where he was an advisor about painting. I was delighted at this suggestion and a show of my work took place in the college in 2017. I was very grateful to Anthony for this.
I always looked forward to seeing Anthony at the NEAC. He was a wonderfully inventive painter to the very end of his life. I shall miss him very much.’
Peter Brown:
‘Anthony joined the NEAC in 2002 and we were delighted. Such an engaging vivacious and charming character. His thoughtful, narrative paintings filled with love resounded on our gallery walls adding such energy to the exhibitions. It was wonderful that such an artist would join our ranks and I remember him giving a speech at a Friends’ dinner where amongst other things he praised the skill of his fellow NEAC members.
He was a wonderful character to be around, and we will all miss him deeply. He leaves us with a remarkable body of work and a record of his enduring love for Mary and his family.’
Peter Kuhfeld:
'Anthony was a consistently fine painter and a charming human being. He will be greatly missed.'
Melissa Scott-Miller:
‘Anthony was very kind to me when I first started at The Slade, and coming straight from school, 18 years old, I was very intimidated and worried about how I could fit in. I had done a painting of my family and pets and Anthony was very encouraging and said, “Just carry on painting your family and your surroundings”.
He was very unpretentious and sincere, and it was always so joyful to meet up with him and Mary at exhibitions. He put his heart and soul into his paintings – very inspiring!'
Julie Held:
'Antony Green was a force of nature – a passionate painter, celebrating love and life in a visionary way. He was an advocate for artists’ rights over copyright, a great mentor to me and many, and always ready to embark on conversation.'
Peter Clossick:
‘I remember in 2002 organising an exhibition with Anthony, Tony Whishaw and Gus Cummins as The Three RAs at the Woodlands Gallery to gain some publicity for the LG. He was a lovely man – great to converse with, and I was surprised when he told me he had started out with earlier work in a loose expressionist style influenced by Bomberg.
After this, he concentrated on scenes from his own domestic life with loving detail, especially of his wife Mary, through idiosyncratic, frequently erotic, and humorous odd-shaped canvases, with compound cut-out perspectival effects through a fish-eye lens. Mainly chronicling his family and surroundings, Anthony maintained that the pictures in his mind had no edges and did not have to be contained within a rectangular form.
His was a quirky non-conformist style with multiple viewpoints, split narratives and a vivid imagination. Mary as his subject matter was depicted with much love and passion. He said, "To be an artist over a period of 50 years, you can't just do it through inspiration. You've got to have artistic intelligence, to think your way through your art and plan, achieve, develop." This is precisely what Anthony Green did throughout his artistic life with a singular vision.
I felt, reflecting on his lifetime love for his wife Mary who had died at age 82 in 2020, that he should have died on the morning of St Valentine’s Day somehow was relevant.
May Anthony rest in peace, he will be missed by many but his art will live on.’
You can read more about Anthony Green’s life and work on his NEAC profile page, or via the following links to articles, tributes and obituaries:
Profile on Chris Beetles Gallery website (works for sale)
Header image: 'Double Dipper Self-Portrait' c/o Chris Beetles Gallery