Saturday 11 August 2012

John Piper – part 2

Famous for his romantic landscapes, views of ruined churches, stately homes and castles, John Piper (1903 – 1992) is considered to be one of the most significant British artists of the 20th Century.

This is part 2 of a 3-part post on the works of John Piper. Parts 1 and 2 show his work chronologically. Part 3 features his 1964 series ‘Churches’, and his 1977 series ‘Victorian Dream Palaces’. For biographical notes on Piper, and for earlier works, see part 1.


1968 Besse, Dordogne 
screenprint 78.1 x 58.4 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1968 Creysse, Dordogne 
screenprint 44.8 x 64.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1968 Floira 
screenprint 43.8 x 65.1 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1968 La Chapelle St Robert, Dordogne 
screenprint 58.7 x 80 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1968 Montpellier de Didonne, Charente 
screenprint 76.8 x 55.9 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1968 Mosnac, Dordogne 
screenprint 44.1 x 66 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1969 Welsh Landscape, Tretio 
screenprint 48.6 x 71.1 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1971 Corton Church, Suffolk 
screenprint 76.2 x 44.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1971 Wymondham, Norfolk 
screenprint 76.2 x 55.9 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1972 Eye and Camera, Blue and Red 
screenprint 48.3 x 69.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1972 Eye and Camera, Multifigure 
screenprint 48.3 x 69.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1972 Eye and Camera, Red and Black 
screenprint 48.3 x 69.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate
   

1972 Ludlow Castle 
screenprint 54.6 x 80.3 cm 
© The Piper Estate

Piper designed the sets for the first staging of the opera "Death in Venice" in 1973. The opera was based on the novella by Thomas Mann and was the work of British composer Benjamin Britten with Myfanwy Piper, who wrote the libretto. Piper’s sets used narrow revolving panels painted with details of Venetian architecture. This screenprint is from a portfolio of eight based on the sketches he made for the set designs:


1972 from 'Death in Venice' 
screenprint 
© The Piper Estate

1975 Foliate Heads I 
screenprint 58.4 x 76.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1975 Foliate Heads II 
screenprint 58.4 x 76.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1975 Horham, Suffolk 
screenprint 54.6 x 84.1 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1976 Holkham, Norfolk 
screenprint 61.3 x 83.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1977 Buckden in a Storm 
screenprint 57.8 x 85.1 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1977 Exeter College Chapel, Oxford 
screenprint 81.9 x 61 cm 
© The Piper Estate

c1977 Eye and Camera, Blue to Ochre 
screenprint 76.5 x 111.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1982 Middle Mill, Pembrokeshire 
© The Piper Estate

1983 Covehithe Church 
oil on canvas 86.3 x 111.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1983 Foliate Head 
intaglio print and screenprint 44.6 x 64.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1983 Lower Brockhampton 
screenprint 45.7 x 66.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1983 Palazzo Pesaro 
intaglio print 45 x 64.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1983 Saltash Bridge 
screenprint 44.8 x 68.3 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1983 St Germain de l'Ivret 
screenprint 45.7 x 64.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1984 Kidwelly Castle 
lithograph 36 x 53 cm 
© The Piper Estate

Thursday 9 August 2012

John Piper – part 1

Famous for his romantic landscapes, views of ruined churches, stately homes and castles, John Piper ( 1903 – 1992 ) is considered to be one of the most significant British artists of the 20th Century.

Born in Epsom in 1903, Piper's inclination to become an artist was inhibited by his father's desire for him to join the family firm. Following the death of his father, Piper enrolled in the Richmond School of Art and a year later the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1929.

In the early 1930's Piper exhibited with the London Group and became secretary of the Seven and Fife Society which included Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens, Ben Nicholson and Paul Nash. He also made a number of trips to Paris where he befriended Alexander Calder and visited the studios of Arp, Brancusi and Jean Hélion. Surrounded by these avant-garde artists, Piper's work of this period reflected the trend for abstraction but by the late 1930's he had returned to a more naturalistic style.

In 1937 Piper married the painter Myfanwy Evans who collaborated on his later work. Collaborations were important to Piper and fuelled his artistic output. The Shell Guides ( a series of illustrated books on the British Isles ) were created with the poet John Betjeman and he produced pottery with Geoffrey Eastop.




Piper worked on stage designs and costumes for theatre and ballet as well as the designs for six operas by Benjamin Britten. A versatile artist, Piper also wrote articles on art and architecture and designed stained glass windows for a number of buildings including the new Coventry Cathedral.




At the outbreak of the Second World War, Piper was commissioned by the 'war artists' scheme' to capture the affects of the war on the British landscape. The devastation of the Blitz was easily assimilated to Piper's personal interest in old ruined buildings. He had also lost his eldest brother in the First World War which may have made the commission particularly poignant and enabled him to respond with his deepest emotion. During these years he travelled the country, capturing the atmosphere of places. These scenes do not always directly relate to bomb-damage but reflect, in Piper's unique way, a sense of loss and nostalgia. In 1944 he was appointed Official War Artist. Piper died at his home in Fawley Bottom, Buckinghamshire in 1992.

This is part 1 of a 3-part post on the works of John Piper.

Parts 1 and 2 show his work chronologically. Part 3 features his 1964 series ‘Churches’, and his 1977 series ‘Victorian Dream Palaces’.


1933-34 Beach with Starfish 
ink, gouache and collage on paper 38 x 48.5 cm 
© Tate, London

1935 Abstract 1 
oil on canvas 91.7 x 106.5 cm 
© Tate, London

c1935 Composition 
oil on canvas 55.4 x 68 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1936 Littlestone-on-Sea 
ink and collage on paper 35.9 x 47.6 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1939-40 Ruined Cottage, Llanthony, Wales 
oil on canvas 39.4 x 49.7 cm 
© Mrs Clarissa Lewis

1940 Redland Park Congregational Church, Bristol 
oil on canvas 61 x 51 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1940 St Mary le Port, Bristol 
oil and pencil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm 
© Tate, London

1940 The Dairy, Fawley Court 
watercolour and drawing 52.7 x 40 cm 
© Tate, London

1941 Seaton Delaval 
oil on canvas 71.1 x 111.7 cm 
© Tate, London

1941 Seaton Delaval, the Central Block  
oil on canvas 62 x 51 cm 
© The Piper estate

In 1942 Piper was suddenly sent to Bath following three nights of bombing there. He worked while the buildings were still burning. Reviewing an exhibition of war art at the National Gallery in October 1941 Piper wrote, 'after a war the controlled emotional record of actual events - the record made at once from experience and in the heat of the moment - is the only one that counts'. The watercolours he made in Bath provided the occasion for making such a record:


1942 All Saints Chapel, Bath 
ink, chalk, gouache and watercolour on paper 42.5 x 55.9 cm 
© Tate, London

1942 Somerset Place, Bath 
pencil, ink and gouache on paper 48.9 x 76.2 cm 
© Tate, London

1943 Gordale Scar, Yorkshire 
© The Piper Estate

1944 Glaciated Rocks, Nant 
pen and ink and wash on paper 
© The Piper Estate

1947 Slopes of Glyder Fawr, Llyn Adwal, Caernarvonshire, Wales 
pen, ink and watercolour 55 x 70 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1947-48 Yarnton Monument 
oil on canvas 62.9 x 75.3 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1953 Drysllwyn Castle 
lithograph 37.8  x 53.7 
© The Piper Estate

1956 Montagne sur Mer 
oil on canvas 71.1 x 91.4 cm
© The Piper Estate

1961 Coast of Brittany I 
gouache and collage on paper 55.9 x 77.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1961 Coast of Brittany II 
gouache and collage on paper 57.1 78.1 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1961 The Forum 
oil on canvas 106.7 x 152.4 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1961-62 Beach in Brittany 
lithograph 47.3 x 64.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1961-62 San Marco, Venice 
lithograph 64.5 x 46.7 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1962-63 Anglesey Beach 
lithograph 55.9 x 44.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

In 1962 Piper designed fibreglass murals to be installed on the exterior of the conference room wing projecting from the front of the new North Thames Gas Board building in Wandsworth ( Architects E.R.Collister, 1959-1962 ). This commission helped define his later abstract work, stating that these pieces were "helpful because it taught me something of the values of clear colours, one against another."

1962 Designs for North Thames Gas Board

1962 Trial Maquette for the North Thames Gas Board Building 
oil 52 x 41.1 cm

North Thames Gas Board building

1965 Southwold II 
gouache 58.4 x 78.7 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1966 Ironbridge 
lithograph 48.3 x 64.5 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1966 Swansea Chapel 
lithograph 68.9 x 51.8 cm 
© The Piper Estate

1966-67 Bethesda Chapel 
lithograph 52.7 x 68.9 cm 
© The Piper Estate