| Description | The Ewart Johns collection contains personal, professional, and artistic works, including photographs, correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and other papers created by or belonging to Ewart Johns. The archive primarily covers Johns’ working life, from his time at the University of Exeter (1948-1972) and Lancaster University (1972-1980s) until his death in 2013.
The archive contains extensive records of Johns’ creative practice, with photographs and negatives of his paintings and sculptures from the 1950s to 2010s. The collection also provides insights into Johns’ creative practice and artistic influences, with a lecture series on art and a short film, ‘Making a Painting,’ exploring his practice in his own words. |
| AdminHistory | Ewart Morien Johns (1923-2013) was an artist and geography lecturer. Born in Barry, South Wales, Johns attended Cardiff College of Art from 1942-1943, where his teacher, Ceri Richards, was a major formative influence on his artistic practice. Johns then moved to St John's College at the University of Cambridge in 1944 to study Geography. After graduating from Cambridge in 1947, Johns trained to become a teacher at the Institute of Education at London University, graduating in 1948 with a Diploma in Education. In the same year he studied painting with Clifford Fishwick at Exeter College of Art.
Johns joined the University College of the South West of England, later the University of Exeter, as a geography lecturer in 1948. While there, he co-founded the Exeter University Opera Group and worked on a number of productions with staff and students.
Johns’ academic research focused on urban design, and, in 1965, his book British Townscapes was published by Edward Arnold. The book studied the architectural styles of towns across Britain and included illustrations and photographs by Johns. While at Exeter, Johns completed several artistic commissions for the University, and some of his paintings can still be seen across the Streatham and St. Luke’s campuses.
In 1972, Johns left Exeter to become the first Head of Department of Visual Arts at Lancaster University. Ten years later, in 1982, he retired back to Devon and continued to paint in a studio in Exeter. He later moved to South Brent with his wife, Barbara, and hosted painting courses and exhibitions from his home.
Johns was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa and gradually lost his sight. He continued to paint and create artworks as his vision deteriorated, using a camcorder suspended over a table and watching the footage live on a screen. Eventually, Johns found creating paintings and drawings too difficult, so he moved on to sculpting—using clay and wood to construct plants, birds and other forms. Towards the end of his life, Johns returned to painting, composing abstract images with card and hardboard and directing an assistant, Diana Gower, to paint and affix the shapes.
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