Bob Crossley

Bob Crossley (1912-2010) was an abstract artist who mainly worked in oil and acrylic, and was largely self-taught. He grew up in Rochdale, and initially established a reputation in the Manchester arts scene with paintings based on figure or industrial landscape motifs. He exhibited alongside other leading Manchester artists including LS Lowry, and Lowry bought a painting at his first major London show at the Reid Gallery in 1960.

Crossley moved to St Ives in 1959, and in response to the work of Peter Lanyon, Roger Hilton, Terry Frost and many others who he encountered there, his work moved towards abstraction. He became good friends with Terry Frost who supported his election to the Penwith Society and Newlyn Society.