Anthony Eyton studied fine art at Reading University in 1941 before serving in the Army from 1942 to 1947. He went on to study at Camberwell School of Art from 1947 to 1950, and in 1951 received an Abbey Major Scholarship, taking him to work in Italy. Eyton was Head of Painting at St Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario in 1969 and taught at the Royal Academy Schools from 1964 to 1999.

Eyton has had solo exhibitions at the New Art Centre, London from 1959, the New Grafton Gallery, London (1973), Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic Gallery (1978) and at the Imperial War Museum, London (1983). A retrospective of his work was held at the South London Art Gallery in 1980 and subsequently toured. He has exhibited regularly in solo exhibitions at Browse & Darby, London since 1980, most recently in 2013. Eyton’s work has also been included in many key group exhibitions, including Drawings of People at the Serpentine Gallery (1976), British Painting 1952 to 1977 at the RA (1977), the Arts Council’s British Art Show (1979), the Hayward Annual (1982) and The Hard Won Image, at the Tate Gallery (1984).

Eyton has travelled extensively, particularly to India, Israel and Sudan. In 1982 he was commissioned by the Artistic Records Committee to observe and paint the Gurkha regiment in Hong Kong and the New Territories, the paintings of which were exhibited at the Imperial War Museum. In 1985 he was Resident Artist at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, with subsequent exhibitions held at the hospital, Surrey University and the King’s Fund Centre. In 1996, the Government Art Collection commissioned him to record the centenary of the British Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was also invited by the Tate Gallery to work in the Bankside Power Station prior to it becoming Tate Modern, and two pictures subsequently entered the Tate Collection. Since 1999 he has been Resident Artist at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Among Eyton’s many awards are the Kingston Whig-Standard Award, Ontario (1969), John Moores Prize Winner (1972), Grocers’ Company Fellowship to work in Italy (1973), First Prize at the Second British International Drawing Biennale, Middlesbrough (1975) and Charles Wollaston Award (Royal Academy, 1989). Eyton was elected a Member of the London Group in 1958, Member of the Royal West of England Academy in 1984, Royal Academician in 1986 (ARA 1976), Member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1988 and a Member of the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1993.

In June 2023 he was awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to painting and to the art community.

Anthony Eyton lives and works in London.