Anthony Law

C. Anthony (Tony) Law DSC D.Lit (1916–1996) was a Canadian naval Official War Artist of the Second World War. He served as a naval officer throughout the war and was known for engaging with enemy coastal convoys off France, and twice mentioned in dispatches. In 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for 15 successive actions during the Normandy landings. After the war, he stayed with the Royal Navy, retiring in 1966. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia held a major retrospective of his work in 1989.

Career Law was born in London, England and came with his family to Canada in 1917, to Quebec City. He attended Upper Canada College in Toronto (1928–1931).

His talent as an artist was discovered and encouraged by Dr. Marius Barbeau. He got his B.A. at the University of Ottawa (1931–1936) and became interested by the Group of Seven collection in the old National Gallery (the building that is now Ottawa's Museum of Nature), taking art lessons from Franklin Brownell and F.H. Varley at the Ottawa Art Association (1934–1937).

In an interview for the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph in December 1943, he said certain battles were "unforgettable". Brilliant light came from the star shells, so he could paint in the middle of the night. Law became an official war artist.

He held three solo shows in 1950 and 1951 in Ottawa, before taking up his duties of first Lieutenant-Commander aboard an aircraft carrier, then in 1955 he became second-in-command of an Arctic patrol ship. In 1957, his paintings were exhibited at the Provincial Museum in Halifax. He also had a show of his Arctic paintings at the Robertson Gallery, Ottawa in 1961, He had a retrospective exhibition at the AGNS in 1989, and a joint exhibition with his wife at Saint Mary's University Art Gallery in 1996.

His works are held in public collections such as the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Confederation Centre of the Arts, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Canadian War Museum, the Musée naval de Québec In 1981, he was awarded the honorary degree of doctor of letters by the Senate of Saint Mary's University. Law died in Halifax in 1996.