About this artwork

This collage was made during the Second World War, while Wells was working as a doctor on the Isles of Scilly. His friend, the artist Ben Nicholson, encouraged Wells to experiment in a collage technique. Wells was friendly with many of the St Ives artists in Nicholson's artistic circle. The radiating white lines of the collage echo the lines etched into the plastic planes in Naum Gabo's transparent sculptures. It has also been suggested that the curved shapes refer to the shape of a sailing boat, corresponding with Wells's interest in sailing, and that the circle is the sun or moon.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    John Wells (1907 - 2000) English
  • title:
    Untitled
  • date created:
    1942
  • materials:
    Collage, gouache and pencil on card
  • measurements:
    (framed: 33.70 x 41.30 x 2.20 cm)
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Bequeathed by John Wells 2000; received 2001
  • accession number:
    GMA 4421
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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John Wells

John Wells