HOLIDAY EDITION #PIEDPIPER
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JOHN PIPER
(John Egerton Christmas Piper)
Surrey, UK
1903 –1992
ABOUT
John Piper is one of the most significant British artists of the twentieth-century. From an early age, he made drawings while journeying around the country, developing a love and historical knowledge of the British landscape, its buildings and monuments. Renowned for powerful and romantic paintings of this landscape and views of churches and monuments, Piper worked across an extraordinarily diverse range of artistic disciplines.
Piper was a paradox – an antiquarian with an interest in medieval history and antiquity yet also a major advocate of international abstract art in Britain. In the early to mid-1930s, he became closely acquainted with artists based in Paris such as Alexander Calder and Jean Hélion, which further informed his developing modern art aesthetic. His coastal collages harness the influence of Picasso while capturing the atmosphere of the English coastline, and his works depicting archaeological sites are at once ancient and modern. Likewise his enthusiasm for medieval stained glass found expression in the dynamic interplay of crisp colour planes found in his abstract paintings. Highlighting this rich interplay of influences, the exhibition includes works by Paris-based artists, to illuminate how Piper looked beyond these shores for inspiration towards forging a distinctive national art style.
As an official war artist, Piper created some of his most sombre and vital works recording the damage sustained by historic buildings and monuments. During the 1940s his work evolved to embrace a style of painting informed by artists of the romantic era including JMW Turner that retained many of the visual innovations developed in his 1930s abstract period. After the war, Piper received many public and applied arts commissions. Of all of these, his major stained glass window designs including for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral had the closest relationship with his painterly practice, signalling the productive convergence of his interests in art, architecture, the church, and the regeneration of heritage traditions in the modern era.
Piper was a paradox – an antiquarian with an interest in medieval history and antiquity yet also a major advocate of international abstract art in Britain. In the early to mid-1930s, he became closely acquainted with artists based in Paris such as Alexander Calder and Jean Hélion, which further informed his developing modern art aesthetic. His coastal collages harness the influence of Picasso while capturing the atmosphere of the English coastline, and his works depicting archaeological sites are at once ancient and modern. Likewise his enthusiasm for medieval stained glass found expression in the dynamic interplay of crisp colour planes found in his abstract paintings. Highlighting this rich interplay of influences, the exhibition includes works by Paris-based artists, to illuminate how Piper looked beyond these shores for inspiration towards forging a distinctive national art style.
As an official war artist, Piper created some of his most sombre and vital works recording the damage sustained by historic buildings and monuments. During the 1940s his work evolved to embrace a style of painting informed by artists of the romantic era including JMW Turner that retained many of the visual innovations developed in his 1930s abstract period. After the war, Piper received many public and applied arts commissions. Of all of these, his major stained glass window designs including for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral had the closest relationship with his painterly practice, signalling the productive convergence of his interests in art, architecture, the church, and the regeneration of heritage traditions in the modern era.
Special thanks to The Tate
Extended version below -
( a very nice read )
ABSTRACTION
Here's a few of Piper's beautiful abstract works. Many of these served as beginnings for his elegant stained-glass windows, textiles, theatre and set designs.
Here's a few of Piper's beautiful abstract works. Many of these served as beginnings for his elegant stained-glass windows, textiles, theatre and set designs.
#piperpickedapeckofpickledpeppers
