John Piper C.H profile

Born in Epsom, Surrey, John Piper was a notable painter of architecture and landscape, designer of stained glass and for the theatre. His first wife was the artist Eileen Holding, his second the writer Myfanwy Evans, and his son the artist Edward Piper. From 1921-26 he studied law and worked in his father's solicitor's office before studying at Richmond and Kingston Schools of Art and the Royal College of Art between 1926-29. In the mid-1930's after a visit to Paris he concentrated on abstract painting, but then reverted to representational work. His first solo show of collages and drawings was at the London Gallery in 1938. Piper was also a prolific writer, working for the Athenaeum, New Statesman, Nation and Architectural Review, publishing his first guide book in 1938. From 1940 for about 20 years he had one man shows with Leicester Galleries. He did numerous ballet designs and was an official war artist during World War II. In 1942 he published his best selling monograph "English Romantic Artists". He was on several occasions a trustee of the Tate Gallery, a member of the Arts Council panel and a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission. Stained glass window designs include Coventry Cathedral and Christchuch College Chapel, Oxford. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1972. Retrospectives were held at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford in 1979 and the Tate Gallery in 1983. The Arts council and many provincial galleries hold his work. He died in Fawley Bottom Oxfordshire in 1992. His work is very collectable and there has been a sharp increase in the price of his paintings in recent years.

Examples of work