Kings Place

Peter Johns: Photographs

12 June - 14 August 09

Originally from Swansea, Peter Johns trained as an art teacher and illustrator. In the 1950s he worked at the South Wales Evening Post and Herald of Wales as an illustrator and photographer. A series of photographs of Welsh miners brought his work to the attention of picture editors at the Guardian and Observer. Johns relocated to London as a freelance photographer in 1961 and worked as a staff photographer at the Guardian from 1965 to 1981.

Johns was part of the new wave of British photojournalists including Ian Berry, Philip Jones Griffiths, David Hurn and Don McCullin. His Guardian work straddles all areas of photojournalism, everything from National Front marches to dock strikes to classic portraiture - Anthony Quinn, Sam Wanamaker, Tennesse Williams, Anita Harris and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Of particular note is his series on the Aberfan disaster and its aftermath. In 1981 Johns moved to Portugal where he set up his 'Photography Workshops Maritenda' and a restaurant and gallery space. In more recent years Johns has concentrated on documentary and landscape work, including, for the first time, some colour material.

Johns works predominantly in black and white using Leica, Pentax and Minolta cameras. Exhibitions include Peter Johns Photographs, Woodlands Art Gallery, London (1980); Greenwich Theatre Gallery (1979) and a retrospective at Whistable Museum & Gallery (2004-05). Group exhibitions include Four Artists and a Photographer, South London Art Gallery (1973).

Johns has now retired to Hastings and in 2006 he donated his archive to the Scott Trust Foundation.