Fonds PNJ - Photographs by Peter Johns

104 sets of negatives and contact prints, 7 vintage prints

Donated to the GNM archive by Peter Johns, 2008 and 2009

Collection comprising of a chronological 35mm negative sequence which represents the full timespan for which Johns worked as staff photographer for The Guardian in London (1965-80), plus some more recent pictures taken in his retirement. There is also a smaller sequence of vintage subject prints printed by Johns.

Administrative/Biographical history: Born in Swansea, Peter Johns trained as an art teacher and illustrator at the city's art college. He started work in the 1950s as illustrator, and later photographer, for the South Wales Evening Post and Herald of Wales before a series on Welsh miners shot on a Rolleiflex camera caught the attention of both The Observer and The Guardian newspapers. He relocated to London as a full-time freelance photographer in 1961 and became a staff photographer for the Guardian in October 1965. He retired from the Guardian in 1981.

His body of work executed whilst working for The Guardian reveals a rich seam of photojournalism - an output which includes series on the Aberfan disaster, National Front marches and dock strikes, as well as various portraits including Anthony Quinn, Sam Wanamaker, Tennesse Williams, Anita Harris and a rare glimpse of Henri Cartier-Bresson. More recent series include documented scenes in Whistable, Hastings Old Town and Portugal, some of which, for the first time in Johns career, are shot in colour.

Chronological

Work by Peter Johns can also be found within the Guardian and Observer picture library collections: GUA/6/9 and OBS/6/9