Anthony Earnshaw (9 October 1924 – 17 August 2001) was an English

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, artist, author and illustrator.

Biography

Earnshaw was born in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

, West Yorkshire. His father, a watchmaker and jeweller, died before he was born. His mother ran the family shop until it went bankrupt in 1930, when they moved first to

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...

and then to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. Earnshaw attended

Harehills Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is about northeast of Leeds city centre. Harehills is between the A58 road, A58 (towards Wetherby) and the A64 road, A64 (towards York). It sits in the Gipton and Ha ...

School in Leeds until the age of 14. He worked as an engineering fitter, and later as a lathe turner and a crane driver, while educating himself at Leeds City Library. At 20 he became interested in

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and, with his lifelong friend Eric Thacker, devised surreal activities such as boarding and alighting from trains at random. In the early 1960s he met several other like-minded people, including Patrick Hughes,

Ian Breakwell Ian Breakwell (26 May 1943 – 14 October 2005) was a British artist, active as a diarist, a draughtsman, a film-maker, a painter, a photographer and a print-maker. Life Breakwell was born on 26 May 1943 in Long Eaton, in Derbyshire. From ...

and Glen Baxter. Hughes persuaded Earnshaw to hold a retrospective at the Leeds Institute in 1966, which was followed by an exhibition in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, ''The Enchanted Domain,'' to which he was invited by John Lyle. He began teaching part-time, first at the

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

School of Art, then at

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Art School, before leaving engineering altogether in 1972 to take up a fellowship at Leeds Polytechnic. He left teaching in 1985 to concentrate on art. In 1968 Earnshaw collaborated with Thacker on an illustrated novel, '' Musrum'', which was not commercially successful, but has become a cult classic. The book is a fantasy, peppered with aphorisms ("Sudden prayers make God jump"), and tells the story of the title character's kingdom and of his battle with the nefarious Weedking. It was followed in 1971 by a sequel, '' Wintersol'', about the secret criminal nature of

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrela ...

. Both books were praised for their elegant writing, wit and wordplay, and especially for their sheer invention. Later publications included the surreal comic series ''Wokker'' in the ''

Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...

'', about a wheeled bird, and books of aphorisms, the largest being '' Flick Knives and Forks'' in 1982. In the 1980s and 1990s Earnshaw began making art boxes, further exemplifying his loyalty to Surrealism. Earnshaw died in 2001. He was survived by his second wife, Gail, and by two daughters from his first marriage.

References

External links

Website on Anthony Earnshaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earnshaw, Anthony 1924 births 2001 deaths People from Ilkley English anarchists English short story writers 20th-century English illustrators 21st-century English illustrators 20th-century English sculptors 21st-century English sculptors English male sculptors English surrealist artists Crane operators English male short story writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English short story writers 20th-century English male writers British art educators English comics artists English comics writers English humorists