Evan John Walters (27 November 1892 – 14 March 1951) was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
artist.
Biography
Walters was born in the Welcome Inn, between
Llangyfelach
Llangyfelach is a village and community located in the City and County of Swansea, Wales. Llangyfelach is situated about 4 miles north of the centre of Swansea, just west of Morriston. It falls within the Llangyfelach ward. To the west is open ...
and
Mynydd-bach
Mynydd-Bach or Mynydd-bach is a suburban district and Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, It falls within the coterminous Mynydd-Bach (electoral ward), Mynydd-Bach ward. The name Mynydd-Bach ("little mountain") ...
, in south Wales, to
nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
and
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
-speaking parents, Thomas Walters (1861-1946) and Elizabeth (Thomas)(1866-1942). The area was partly rural and partly industrial. He trained first as a painter and decorator in
Morriston
Morriston (; cy, Treforys ) is a Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales and falls within the Morriston (electoral ward), Morriston ward. It is the largest community in Swansea county.
Morriston is sometimes ref ...
,
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, but soon progressed to the
Swansea School of Art, the
Regent Street Polytechnic
The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...
in London and the
Royal Academy Schools
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
. He emigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1915, where he was conscripted into the
war effort
In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...
and worked as a
camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...
painter. After the Armistice he returned to Wales and established himself as a portrait painter.
His first solo exhibition at the
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is the public art gallery of the City and County of Swansea, in Wales, United Kingdom. The gallery is situated in Alexandra Road, near Swansea railway station, opposite the old Swansea Central Library.
History
The ...
in Swansea in 1920 contained, among other works three pictures related to the local mining communities and proved a turning point in his career. The exhibition attracted the attention of
Winifred Coombe Tennant
Mrs Winifred Margaret Coombe Tennant (1 November 1874 – 31 August 1956) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, philanthropist, patron of the arts and spiritualist. She and her husband lived near Swansea in South Wales, where she becam ...
, who would become Walters's most important patron.
After meeting Walters to commission him to paint her portrait and portraits of her husband and children, she described him as "A young dark typical Welshman. Very intelligent and pleasant... He has genius."
His fame in Wales grew when he became joint winner of a number of art prizes at the 1926
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Eur ...
in Swansea, where
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...
was one of the two adjudicators. Walters had designed the poster advertising the Eisteddfod but the entire print run was pulped due to a perceived sexual innuendo in the design. Winifred Coombe Tennant managed to save a single copy.
That year he was also given a one-man exhibition in the Dorothy Warren Gallery in London, where his industrial subject manner was embraced by left-leaning critics in the wake of the
General Strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...
.
This and John's opinion that "a new genius had emerged" were widely reported in the London press.
He was characterised as a "collier-artist", though he had never worked in the coal industry.
During the General Strike, Walters painted ''Welsh Funeral Hymn'' showing four naked youths, marked with stigmata, on a coal tip with a choir and chapel in the background.
By the spring of 1936 Walters had developed a theory of perception that was to have a calamitous outcome for him. This was an investigation into "double vision" or to use the scientific term, physiological diplopia. His experimentation with producing "double vision" paintings became almost an obsession and an exhibition of November 1936 at the Coolings Gallery, London of these works was not a success and not one of the twenty- two pictures was sold.
[Plummer, Barry, Evan Walters: Moments of Vision, Seren, Bridgend, 2011. p. 19] Walters wrote an essay on his ideas, ''The Third Dimension'', and continued to champion the theory, without any success, for the rest of his life.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Evan
1892 births
1951 deaths
20th-century Welsh painters
20th-century Welsh male artists
Artists from Swansea
Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools
Alumni of the University of Westminster
Welsh male painters