3rd Dec, 2020 10:00

Modern & Post-War British Art | Live Online

 
  Lot 20 §
 

JOHN PIPER, C.H., (1903-1992)

JOHN PIPER, C.H., (1903-1992)
Cardiganshire Hillside
signed John Piper (lower right), inscribed Cardiganshire Hillside (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
83 x 106 cm (32 1/2 x 41 3/4 in)
Painted in 1975

LITERATURE:
A.West, John Piper, London 1979, illustrated.

Painted in the mid-1970s Cardiganshire Hillside is a stunning example of Piper’s confident topographical pieces. The work captures the sunlight striking two small clusters of whitewashed buildings set in the emerald sea of verdant rolling hills loosely constrained by black field boundaries. The composition is largely impressionistic with flecks of vegetation, occasional tree dots along hedge rows and yellow crops helping lead one’s eye through the scene.

The 70s were a period when Piper’s works were particularly sought after. The artist initially explored Cardiganshire in the summer of 1939 when visiting the somewhat forgotten ruined estate of Hafod set within what is also known as the ‘desert’ of Wales. He found the remote landscape which was in turns, both wild and barren particularly attractive. At first drawn to the hills of Wales, his artistic eye naturally turned northwards to the more mountainous Snowdonia in the mid and later 1940s.

In 1961 Piper purchased a holiday home on Garn Fawr north of St. David’s and from this base he returned his attention once again to Cardiganshire. Research for the Shell Guide books of Wales and a love of the varied yet distinctive Welsh chapels also strengthened his familiarity with many remote parts of the country.

In 1974 Cardiganshire became part of the district of Ceredigion in the larger county of Dyfed. However, Piper still uses the former nomenclature probably to indicate he did not wish to rush to change the overt description of a landscape he had known for some 35 years.


We are grateful to Hugh Fowler-Wright for his assistance in completing this catalogue entry.


 

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