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John Egerton Christmas Piper CH (13 December 1903 – 28 June 1992) was an English painter, printmaker and designer of stained-glass windows and both opera 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 the Richmond School of Art, followed by the Royal College of Art in London. He turned from abstraction early in his career, concentrating on a more naturalistic but distinctive approach, but often worked in several different styles throughout his career. He was an official war artist in World War II and his war-time depictions of bomb damaged churches and landmarks, most notably those of Coventry Cathedral, made Piper a household name and led to his work being acquired by several public collections. Piper collaborated with many others, including the poets John Betjeman and Geoffrey Grigson on the Shell Guides, and with the potter Geoffrey Eastop and the artist Ben Nicholson. In his later years he produced many limited-edition prints.
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Read full Wikipedia entryArtworks
John Piper Figure Drawing
1941
John Piper Flintham
1977
John Piper Abstract I
1935
John Piper Beach with Starfish
c.1933–4
Artist as subject
Julian Trevelyan Scrapbook
1938–40
J. Leger & Son (London, UK) J. Leger & Son exhibition catalogue titled ‘Exhibition of Modern Paintings’
1944
Sir Jacob Epstein, recipient: Peggy Jean Lewis Letter from Jacob Epstein to Peggy Jean Hornstein
25 November [1957]
J. Leger & Son (London, UK) J. Leger & Son exhibition catalogue titled ‘Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings & Sculptures: Nudes by Contemporary Artists’
January–February 1942
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Michael Ernest Sadler Letter from Henry Moore to Michael Ernest Sadler
27 June 1942
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Michael Ernest Sadler Letter from Henry Moore to Michael Ernest Sadler
21 February 1942
J. Leger & Son (London, UK) J. Leger & Son exhibition catalogue titled ‘Paintings, Water-colours & Sculptures by Contemporary Artists’
1943
Julian Trevelyan Scrapbook
1931–9
Features
Tate Etc
Opinion: 'Middlebrow' art
‘Highbrow’ and ‘lowbrow’ art – the cultural hierarchies have been with us for over 100 years, but it is time ...
Tate Etc
John Piper: Cut-and-Paste Landscapes
John Piper (1903–1922) worked across a diverse range of media and, as his grandson Luke recalls, he made collages inspired ...
Art Term
The Seven and Five Society
Formed in London in 1919 The Seven and Five Society was initially a traditional group and can be seen as ...
Tate Etc
To the rescue of civilisation man: Kenneth Clark: Looking for Civilisation
In his day Kenneth Clark was an influential patron, art historian, collector, gallery director and broadcaster - and one of the ...
Blog
John Piper: painting the British landscape in wartime
This view in Snowdonia is characteristic of the wartime phase of Neo-Romanticism, a tendency that combined an interest in the ...
Tate Etc
Something supernatural, this way comes: Magic and Modernity in British Art
Folklore, mythology, mysticism and the occult pervade the development of modernism and Surrealism in Britain, especially in relation to the ...
Tate Papers
Perspectives: Negotiating the Archive
Archives are more prominent than ever, not only in art practice and theoretical discourse but also in popular culture. An ...
Tate Papers
Lines of Sight: Alfred Watkins, Photography and Topography in Early Twentieth-Century Britain
Alfred Watkins (1855–1935) originated the idea of ley-lines and surveyed alignments which articulated the prehistoric landscape of Britain, in ...
Sketches, letters, etc.
John Piper Photograph of Stonehenge in Wiltshire
[c.1930s–1980s]
Henry Moore OM, CH ‘Some Notes on Space and Form in Sculpture’, ‘Sculptor’s Drawings’ and ‘Notes’ by Henry Moore
1951
Henry Moore OM, CH, recipient: Myfanwy Piper Letter from Henry Moore to Myfanwy Piper
30 March 1954
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