Anthony Christian

Anthony Christian was the youngest artist ever to have studied at London’s National Gallery when he was only 10 years old. At the same time he studied anatomy at The Victoria and Albert Museum under the auspices of Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith.

The newspapers hailed him as a prodigy during his time at the National Gallery where he was skillfully reproducing Philips Wouwerman’s ‘Cavalry Battle’, a painting measuring 54 x 75 ins. which was larger than the artist at the time.  By the time it was completed in 1961, he had received offers up to £8300 for the painting, equivalent to £185,000 today.

1960s

By the 1960s Christian had become an established portrait artist and travelled across Europe exhibiting his paintings and drawings.

His earlier portraits include Antonio Vargas, Howard Greer, Blake Edwards, Count Guido di Carpegna, Prince Edmuondo Ruspoli, HRH Princess Lalla Fatima Zohra, Mr. George Ansley and Mr. Peter Cazalet, racehorse trainer to the Queen Mother.

In 1969 he held a one man exhibition of his drawings at the Upper Grosvenor Galleries in London.

1970s

In 1970, Christian exhibited his oil paintings at the Upper Grosvenor Galleries and went on to exhibit at the Albert White Gallery in Toronto, Palm Beach Gallery in Florida, the Hazlitt Gallery in London, and the Wildenstein Gallery in London.

In 1971 he did the portrait of  Albert Rothschild in New York and in 1975 he portrayed Baronne Olympia de Rothschild in Paris.

His portraits also included Lord Lichfield, Lord Mountbatten, Lord Rothermere, Sir Christopher Soames, Terence Stamp, Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Marisa Berensen, Viscomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, Count Rene Boel,  Niccolo Tucci, Henry Mattison, Baroness Fiona Thyssen, Patricia Rawlings, Lord Boothby, Shawn Phillips, Baron Alexis de Rede, General Billote,  Luigi Barzini, Baroness Frescabaldi, Countess Ruccini, Piero Stucchi, Signora Anna Crespi,  Vladimir Vasilliev, Paul-Louis Weiller, Monsieur Jean de Beistegui and Prince Michel de Bourbonne Parme among others.

In April 1972 Christian was featured in Vogue Magazine.

1980s

During the 1980s he travelled through Morocco and in 1984 King Hassan II gave Christian a letter giving him the freedom to travel under the auspices of the royal family in Morocco.

He lived in New York and his reputation was quickly established through paintings of Interiors and Still Lifes commissioned by Nan Kempner, Bill Blass and Connie Mellon among others.

In 1985 Andy Warhol admired Christian’s drawings and arranged for six of them to be hung in the New York Academy of Art to inspire the students.

In 1986 he held a one man exhibition at  The Hammer Galleries in New York.

At the end of the decade Christian moved to Bali,  Indonesia, where he built a gallery and museum for his Private Collection, attracting collectors from around the world.

1990s

Christian’s first Limited Edition catalogue of work, titled ‘A. Christian’ was published in 1991 and met with great success in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and United States.

He continued travelling throughout Asia and the United States painting and exhibiting the The Private Collection. He began experimenting with surrealism and set up a new base in India where his home is now also a centre for biodynamic farming in India.

2000 Onward

One of Christian’s portraits of Lord Mounbatten sold through the Philip Mould Gallery in London.

Christian has completed three volumes of  his autobiography titled ‘Art and Soul’.

He  lives between England, Ireland and India and travels extensively. He has created a series  of drawings titled The Beauty of Woman and painted Irish landscapes, a series of paintings of his wife Fanny Sleeping, a collection of Indian rural landscapes, a series of New York landscapes, a collection of drapery paintings and a collection of collaborative works with his wife the artist, Marian Fannon Christian.