John Ernest (1922 – 1994)

John Ernest was born in Philadelphia in 1922 but settled in Europe in 1946 where he developed an abstract painting style under the influence of Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso. He later moved into the creation of relief and tower constructions while studying as a mature student at St Martin’s School of Art in the early 1950’s. This style of work was no doubt inspired by his association with Victor Pasmore whom he met in 1952.
Examples of Ernest’s work were included in the seminal exhibition This is Tomorrow at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1956. He referred to the interlocking, graphic patterns of his work as ‘Mosaic’s’ and took a methodical, almost mathematical approach to their production. As a result he produced relatively few works in his lifetime.
Ernest enjoyed a successful career as a teacher at Regent Street Polytechnic as well as Corsham and Chelsea School’s of Art where he taught from 1964 to 1987. Younger constructivist artists of the time including Gillian Wise and Terry Pope, counted Ernest among their influences.
One of Ernest’s largest tower construction pieces was made as a temporary structure for the International Union of Architects Congress on the South Bank in 1961 where he also displayed his largest relief work. In 1964 the ICA exhibited 17 of his constructions and examples of his work are held by the Tate and Arts Council Collections.
He died in 1994 aged 72.