Paintings

John G. Wells

John Wells (July 27, 1907 - 2000) was an artist and maker of relief constructions, associated with the St Ives group.

He was born in London, and trained as a doctor at University College Hospital.  He learned to paint at evening classes at St Martin’s School of Art.  From 1936 to 1945, he worked as a General Practitioner for the Isles of Scilly.  After the Second World War, he decided to pursue a full-time career as an artist.  At that time he settled in Newlyn, Cornwall and became closely involved with the renowned artistic community at the nearby town of St. Ives.

He was the co-founder of the Crypt Group and the Penwith Society of artists.  He worked with Barbara Hepworth from 1950 to 1951 and exhibited regularly in London, the provinces and abroad. His work is represented in the Tate Gallery.  His works of geometric abstraction were influenced by Naum Gabo, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth.

Wells died on July 28, 2000 on the Penwith Peninsula, at the southwest tip of Cornwall.

An exhibition at the Tate St Ives in 2007, celebrated the centenary of his birth.