John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)

We are very grateful to Rev. Dr Stephen Laird FSA for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

This mixed media painting is related to the two ink and gouache drawings reproduced in Piper’s Places by Richard Ingrams of ruined cottages in the south Oxfordshire village of Stadhampton. That sheet of drawings is dated circa 1942, so it is reasonable to date the Freers’ painting to around the same time. The two drawings are dark ink delineations with areas of white gouache (or blank paper) throwing patterns of light across them. The Freers' painting is a much more abstracted and theatrical composition, wonderfully atmospheric and Romantic, rather like a Piper stage design: a dark, moonlit scene full of cast shadows and mysterious doorways.

A.L.