The Cottage by Frith Wood, Hampshire

Location

Country: India
City: New Delhi
Place: British High Commission

John Piper was born in Epsom, Surrey and worked in his father’s solicitors’ firm until 1926. He later studied art in Richmond and London. Meeting Braque in Paris inspired him to make abstract art and to exhibit with the Seven and Five Society (1934–35). In 1935 Piper collaborated with Myfanwy Evans (later, his wife) on the pioneering review, ‘Axis’. He abandoned abstract art for Neo-Romanticism and during the Second World War, as an Official War Artist, he recorded bomb-devastated buildings of England’s disappearing architectural heritage. A versatile artist, Piper made book illustrations, theatre designs, ceramics, stained-glass and textiles. He collaborated with Patrick Reyntiens on stained glass projects which included the baptistry window for what was then the new Coventry Cathedral, and the stained glass lantern for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Retrospectives of Piper's work were held at the Museum of Modern Art (Oxford, 1973) and the Tate (1983–84).

Places

England, Hampshire

Subjects

topography, WW2 art, landscape C20th, grass, woodland, World War II, house, cottage, ruin

Materials & Techniques

board, oil, oil painting

Artist

John Piper (1903 - 1992)

Title

The Cottage by Frith Wood, Hampshire

Date

1941

Medium

Oil on board

Dimensions

height: 71.00 cm, width: 91.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the New Art Centre, June 1984

Inscription

signed and inscribed verso

Provenance

Sold through Sotheby's, 23 May 1984 (Lot 207); purchased from New Art Centre June 1984

GAC number

16273