Piper was an English painter, print-maker and designer of stained glass windows and theatre sets. His work often focused on the British landscape, especially churches and monuments and included tapestry designs, book jackets, screen-prints, photography, fabrics and ceramics. He was educated at Epsom College and trained at Richmond School of Art, followed by the Royal College of Art, London. He turned from abstraction early in his career, concentrating on a more naturalistic approach. As well as being official war artist in World War II, he also collaborated with many others including the poets John Betjeman and Geoffrey Grigson on the Shell Guides and the artist Ben Nicholson. In later years he produced many limited edition prints.
John Piper, CH (1903-1992), Portland, Black Beach, 1948
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Pen, ink and watercolour over pencil
14 ½ x 19 ¾ in (37 x 50 cm)
Signed
Collections: Bought at the Exhibition in 1948 by Colonel Bertram Buchanan, Oxenbridge Farm, Iden, Kent and thence by descent to the present day
Exhibited: London, The Leicester Galleries Exhibition of works by John Piper 1948 (35)
Bertram Buchanan (1873 – 1962) was an accomplished woodcut artist and as Hugh Fowler Wright speculates possibly a longstanding friend of Piper’s from his initial enthusiasm for the medium. Piper’s views of Portland are one of the recurring motifs in his painting at this time. He spoke of the area’s ‘’ferocity and romance’’ and its ‘’astonishing purity’’. A view from a similar viewpoint is in The Southampton Art Gallery (repr: John Piper in The West Country Wiltshire Museum, Devizes 2026 fig 49).