Born in Llanishen, Wales, John Ensor moved to Canada as a child but returned to Europe to study art in Italy and France. Funded by a family inheritance, he traveled through Africa and Canada before taking a job as an industrial designer in London, England. During World War II, he held the post of Official War Artist for the British Ministry of Information and served the British Royal Engineers. By 1948, he had returned to Canada and established his own design firm and an art gallery. Throughout his life, he continued to paint and his works were exhibited across Canada. Today, his paintings can be found in the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum, and the British Museum in London. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts as well as the Association of Canadian Industrial Designers.

In 1967, Ensor’s watercolour painting “Summer’s Stores” was selected for the 50 cent Centennial Canada Post stamp. Depicting grain elevators in Peace River, Alberta, in mid-winter, the image references the artist’s interest in both industrial design and the Canadian landscape. The Sampson-Matthews silkscreen based on this painting, the only Ensor piece in the program, was printed from 1947-1953.