Francis Hewlett RWA (1930 – 2012)

Francis Hewlett was a well-known painter in Falmouth, having taught at Falmouth School of Art (now University College Falmouth) from 1963 – 1981 as Head of the painting department. His art training first in Bristol at the West of England School of Art under George Sweet followed by the Slade School under Claude Rogers and William Coldstream, gave Hewlett the building blocks of his painting career.  He inherited the views of the Euston Road group who rebelled against modernism in the UK in the 1930s and their aim to re-establish the importance of painting traditional subjects in a realist manner. This was the philosophy of Hewlett’s teaching at Falmouth and his own artistic practice.  

In this talk the works Hewlett created are discussed including his sideways move into sculptural ceramics.  In 1977 he was appointed by the Welsh Arts council and the University of Wales to the Gregynog Arts Fellowship which gave him a year out to paint in Wales. This rekindled Hewlett’s belief in painting again and from 1981 after retiring from teaching on health grounds he dedicated his time to painting his surroundings in Falmouth, his family and revisiting subjects such as the Bristol Empire Theatre, Bristol and Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris that he had drawn as a student in the 1950s.

A Figure Painter In A Modernist World: Francis Hewlett RWA (1930 – 2012)

Thursday 26th March 6.00pm - 7:00pm

Cost: £13

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