František Gross (1909-1985) was an important Czech painter and graphic artist, a leading representative of Czech fine art of the 20th century, co-founder of Group 42, between the years 1941-52 member of Umělecká Beseda, since 1945 Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists and from 1961 Radar Group.

Representation in the collections: His work is represented in the collections of the GAVU in Olomouc, the Museum of Fine Arts in Łódži (Poland), the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín and the Central Bohemian Gallery in Prague.

Selection of exhibitions: He first exhibited in 1931 with L. Zívr in Nová Paka and from 1936 he participated in the Zlín Salons. From 1937 he exhibited at the E. F. Burian Theater, for whose D 37 he created a curtain for a chamber performance by Jaroslav Seifert. In 1941 he became a member of the Art Department of Umělecká beseda and regularly sent exhibitions. In 1942, he was among the founders of Group 42, with which he exhibited at all its exhibitions, and from the same year he also exhibited independently (Vilímkova galerie). In 1946 he got to the Paris exhibition, which presented the Czechoslovak art of the war years (Art Tsécoslovaque 1938-1946 in the La Boëtie Gallery). And then he participated quite regularly in foreign exhibitions, especially in Europe, for example in 1947 in Antwerp or also in Rio de Janeiro or Lucerne. In 1948 in the Czechoslovak exposition at XXIV. Venice Biennale. He then exhibited abroad in other decades, for example at the 6th Biennial in São Paulo, Brazil in 1961 and at a number of other exhibitions in Europe, which co-created the image of the then Czechoslovak art in the world.
František Gross was born in 1909 in Nová Paka, to which he returned to exhibit for the rest of his life. After a few years at the Czech Technical University, he transferred to the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, where he studied with František Kysela. Thanks to his childhood in the Krkonoše foothills, he had a feeling for the landscape, but in his paintings he focused most on the urban environment, especially the outskirts of Prague. At first he dealt with the technique of terrycloth and collage, gradually he worked his way up to paintings. In the 1950s, he succumbed to socialist realism and devoted himself to painting factories and machines. He managed to leave Sorel, but he continued to develop the aesthetics of machines and poetic inventions in the spirit of neo-figure painting. The paintings from this period are more diverse and playful. He also devoted himself to landscape painting, especially in the 1970s, when his political passion from previous years cooled down.