July 28th John Wells (Death)
     

London – born John Clayworth Spencer Wells, (1907 – 2000) but of a Cornish mother, studied medicine at University College Hospital and also learnt to paint at Saint Martin’s School of Art’s evening classes.  From 1936, until the end of the Second World War he was the sole General Practitioner for the Isles of  Scilly.  

When the war ended he retired from medicine to become a full time artist, settling in Newlyn and purchasing the ‘Anchor Studio’.

A geometric abstract artist, he became closely associated with the St. Ives artists namely Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth (May 20th) and the Russian artist Naum Gabo (August 5th), who stayed in St. Ives for a brief period.  He also became close friends with Peter Lanyon (August 31st), Patrick Heron (February 20th) and Bryan Wynter (September 8th), worked with Sven Berlin (September 11th) and exhibited regularly in London.  Wells would often cycle over to St. Ives to meet with them in ‘The Sloop Inn’.

He was the co-founder of the ‘Penwith Society of Artists’ and with Moffatt Lindner (September 19th) and Borlase Smart (November 3rd) established the ‘Borlase Smart John Wells Trust’ to buy the Porthmeor Studios from the owners, Barclays Bank.

 



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