Peter Watts, longtime Wellfleet resident and renowned landscape painter, died on Aug. 17, 2020, at age 86. He succumbed to esophageal cancer, just two days after attending a reception in his honor at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, where his paintings are on exhibit.
Peter, who was ailing, held out to see his friends and hear what they said about him at the reception, his friend Robert Rindler said. “He was exhausted when he got home,” Rindler said. “He went to bed, fell asleep, and never got out of bed again.”
Peter, who grew up in New Jersey and taught art at Trinity School in Manhattan, moved to Wellfleet in 1970 with his wife, the late photographer and painter Gloria Nardin. He joined the board of the Fine Arts Work Center in 1978 and was a trustee of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum for more than 30 years. He was represented as a painter by the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown.
“He had such a light in him,” Walker said. “He carried the light he put in his paintings. He was a beautiful person.”
Peter was predeceased by his father and mother, Wilfred and Ellen (“Nell”) Watts; his brother, Roger; and his wife, Gloria, who died in 2018. He is survived by his four stepchildren, Terry, Doya, Todd, and Rani Nardin, and their spouses, children, and grandchildren; and by his sister-in-law, Lois Watts.
There are no plans for a memorial service. A tribute to Peter Watts will appear in next week’s issue of the Provincetown Independent.
