John Piper (1903-1992) 'Horses and Riders in Southern Spai...

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€4,000 - €5,000

John Piper (1903-1992)

'Horses and Riders in Southern Spain, c. 1950'
watercolour and charcoal on paper, approx. 36cms x 51cms (14'' x 20''). (1)

Best known for his vivid paintings of historic buildings, John Piper was also adept at print-making, photography, book illustration, stained glass, tapestry and stage design. Born in Surrey and educated at Epsom College, he attended Richmond School of Art, and was later a student at the Royal College of Art, where Henry Moore was a teacher. Although a committed Modernist and abstract painter at the outset, Piper went on to create a more personal style that combined representation with expressive use of paint. Harnessing his interest in medieval art, he sought to create a Modernist style that, while international in outlook, could be identified as ‘national’ in feeling. During WWII, Piper was commissioned by Kenneth Clark to record churches and other historic buildings that had been damaged or destroyed by bombing. He collaborated with writers and poets including John Betjemen and Geoffrey Grigson, most famously on the Shell guides to Britain.
In 1938 Piper was asked to design the sets for Stephen Spender's play Trial of a Judge at the Unity Theatre, and he continued to design for the stage throughout his life. Much of his work was for opera and ballet, creating sets and costumes for the Sadler's Wells Ballet Company
and for operas at Glyndebourne, Aldburgh and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.
The first productions of Benjamin Britten's operas The Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring (Glyndebourne 1947), The Turn of the Screw, Billy Budd (1951), Death in Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1961) were all designed by Piper, who also did the costumes for several of these productions.
In the 1950’s and 60’s Piper travelled on the Continent, particularly in France and Italy, and this watercolour and charcoal drawing is likely a scene in Spain, probably Andalucia. Horses and riders—possibly picadors heading towards a bullring—traverse the cobbled streets beside ancient ramparts. The window on the rampart tower shows a hint of Moorish influence. This may be a scene from a bullring in Southern Spain, or an imagining by Piper of a scene from Cervante’s novel Don Quixote, which was choreographed as a ballet and performed at the Royal Opera House in London in 1950.

Dr. Peter Murray, 2023