The work of Tom Cross is largely based on landscapes and during his life he travelled widely in search of source material. His first visit to the Middle East was in 1996. He subsequently made a number of visits to Dubai at the invitation of the Majlis Gallery, painting the architecture, the old Arab houses with their Wind Towers, the Mosques, the vast desert landscape and the Hajar Mountains of Dubai and Oman. He became fascinated with the ferocious nature of the mountains and the desert landscapes with their colour and spectacle. In the modern cities he found inspiration on the architecture old and new.
Tom trained at Manchester where he had a great friendship with LS Lowry. From the very early stages of his career, travel was an important aspect in his development as a painter, beginning with a scholarship to the British School in Rome after finishing at the Slade School of Art in 1956. A subsequent bursary from the French Government gave him the opportunity to live and work in Paris, and in the South of France, where he brushed shoulders with Picasso and Braque, and met Dubuffet. He returned many times to Italy, particularly the Marche, where much of his earlier work was executed. Venice was also hugely important for him, his work showing the splendour of the Palladian churches and the canals. He spent several years painting in France and Italy before working for the Welsh Arts Council and living in Wales. The Welsh mountains provided inspiration for a great deal of his early work and continued to influence him into the 21st century.
He was Senior Lecturer of Fine Art at the University of Reading where he introduced Terry Frost to the teaching programme. He became Principal of Falmouth School of Art, Cornwal, in 1976 until 1987, still maintaining his painting practice rigorously with a studio at the Wood Lane campus.
Tom’s works have been exhibited widely in Britain, the US, Australia and the Middle East. He travelled and painted extensively in the US, Mexico, Australia, Guernsey to name but a few. He has written several major works including ‘Painting the Warmth of the Sun, St Ives Artists 1939-1975” a book about the St Ives Modernist period which was televised into a 3-part Channel 4 TV programme and senior critics believe that its publication paved the way for the establishment of the Tate Gallery in 1993 St Ives “The Shining Sands, Artists in Newlyn and St Ives.
The collection is now managed by David and Carol Cross who are hugely thankful for being asked by the Majlis Gallery to return to exhibit Toms extensive Middle East collection after the last exhibition there in 1997.
