Peter Ewart was born in 1918 on a prairie homestead in Saskatchewan. As a boy, he lived in Montreal, Quebec, but spent most summers in rural Saskatchewan, Ontario or Nova Scotia. After high school he enrolled in an art correspondence course, and subsequently completed his art training in 1939 at the Commercial Illustration Studio of New York City.

As a young commercial artist he worked for various companies in Montreal, among them the Canadian Pacific Railway and Taylor Advertising, while at the same time pursuing his dream of becoming a freelance artist. His work was represented at the Stevens Gallery in Montreal, and the Art Association of Montreal. In 1943 Ewart joined the war effort as a war artist and tr...