From Realism to abstraction was the path that George Ayers Cress followed, along with other mid-twentieth-century artists. His color choice also shifted from earth tones to lighter and more lyrical pinks and blues.
Cress was born in Anniston, Alabama, and grew up nearby in northeast Georgia and for a while in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended Decatur (Georgia) Boys High and was a member of the French Club. After graduation he went to the University of Georgia in Athens and studied with Lamar Dodd and Jean Charlot. From the university he earned both his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and his Master of Fine Arts. When he enlisted in 1942 his draft card indicated he had had four years of college and that his occupation was “art student.” He served in the military from 1942 to 1945 and was stationed in Europe. He also studied journalism at Emory University in Atlanta and at American University in Washington, DC, perhaps in connection with the Phillips Memorial Art Gallery.
After his military service, Cress took several short-term teaching positions as an instructor of art: Judson College, Marion, Alabama, 1945–1946; Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Virginia, 1946–1947; University of Maryland, in College Park, 1947–1948; University of Georgia, 1949. In 1949 he began as an instructor of art at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga (UTC), and two years later was promoted to professor of art and head of the art department. He remained there until 1984 and was designated an Alexander and Charlotte Guerry Professor, a distinction awarded to outstanding professors. The Cress Gallery of Art at UTC is named in his honor.
Cress was active in many ways across the Southeast: he was a member of the Southern States Art League; president of the Southeast College Conference, 1965/1966; president of the Tennessee Arts Council, and a board member of the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga. During his long tenure at UTC he also held additional positions, such as an adviser to the Ontario Department of Education, Toronto, in 1963, and as a visiting artist at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, in 1969.
In addition to his paintings, largely landscapes or abstractions based on landscapes, Cress adored composing photographs. He traveled to England and produced a series of photographs in the homes and studios of Henry Moore, John Piper, Ben Nicholson, and William Scott. These are now part of the George Ayers Cress Artist Studio Photographs Collection, a subset of the digital collections at UTC.