Ron Waddams was a Chiswick-born visual artist primarily inspired by the abstract expressionist movement of the 1950s. His works focus on themes of nature, peace, community and spirituality. 

Ron Waddams was born in 1920 at Chiswick. He spent his childhood in Shepherd's Bush where he attended elementary school. In 1933, he moved with his parents to West Twyford, and a year later he gained a place at Ealing School of Art where he came top of the Junior Art Department. By 1937 he was working in a London commercial art studio.

Click here to view all work in the archive by Ron Waddams.

From 1940 to 1946 he was called up for military action and served without distinction in Britain, India and Burma. After demobilisation and a period of readjustment, he returned to work as a freelance commercial artist.

By 1967, then well established as a graphic designer and married with three children, he wished to use the skills he had to make artwork about the values and concerns he held. This he did in his spare time between commercial commitments. Ron had attended Quaker meetings for worship for many years and was accepted into membership in 1978. He gave up self-employed work in 1985, which allowed him to continue painting full-time. 

The primary and foremost visual element of much of Waddams' work evokes the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s. Through geometric, abstracted and often minimalist forms, Waddams' art speaks to themes such as community, peace, organic nature and spirituality, all popular themes in the Expressionist art of the 1950s.

The first public exhibition of Waddams' work was at Jordans Friends Meeting House in 1997. Ron Waddams died on 18 September 2010 peacefully and at home. He was of the same generation of artists as Ryno Frieberg, Manuel Bennett, Roger Sprunger, Rene Charles Acht and Anthony La Rocco.

Click here to view all work in the archive by Ron Waddams.

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