Abstract

Details

John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)
Abstract
signed 'John Piper' (lower right)
pencil, gouache and collage on paper
9¼ x 11½ in. (23.5 x 29.2 cm.)
Executed circa 1936.

Provenance

Purchased at the 1964 exhibition, by a private collector on behalf of the Texas Commerce Bank.
Acquired by the present owner from Texas Commerce Bank, in the early 1980s.

Exhibited

London, Marlborough Fine Art, John Piper Retrospective Exhibition, March 1964, no. 26.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Brought to you by

André Zlattinger

Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this

azlattinger@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2681

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

In the preface to the 1964 exhibition catalogue Robert Melville comments, 'The typical Piper abstract painted at a time when he was scrupulously subscribing to the tenets of an international abstract school is on the verge of illustrating the idea of an empty stage with no room to spare for actors: it's a façade of coloured flats occupying the entire picture space. Adepts of absolute form might well cry out that one analogy is an analogy too many, but it seems to me that it is precisely this quality of remaining vulnerable to simile, of not turning its back on the human need to discover 'likeness' that gives Piper's early contribution to abstraction its personal accent, its saveur, perhaps its Englishness' (see exhibition catalogue, Retrospective Exhibition John Piper, London, Marlborough Fine Art, 1964, p. 4).

S.L.

More from 20th Century British & Irish Art

View All