Oxford Circus: Peter Robinson by Anthony Gross, watercolour and ink on paper

This drawing was made in September 1940, at the height of the London Blitz, when the Peter Robinson department store in Oxford Street suffered bomb damage.

The War Artists’ Advisory Committee initially gave Anthony Gross a short-term commission with the War Office to produce drawings of coastal defence subjects before he covered campaigns in Asia and Africa. However, he also worked independently, making drawings of wartime London that he exhibited. A prolific etcher and draughtsman who produced extensive watercolour drawings, Gross was described by art historian Herbert Read as being able to ‘put over an impression in fewer lines than most people’. Copyright: the artist's estate and Bridgeman Images / RAF Museum.