Barn, Cwm Cynfal, Snowdonia

Details

John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)
Barn, Cwm Cynfal, Snowdonia
ink, pastel, watercolour and gouache, squared for transfer
9½ x 12¼ in. (24.1 x 31.1 cm.)
Executed in 1943.
There is a study of a landscape by the same hand on the reverse.

Provenance

Acquired from the artist's family by the present owner's family in the 1990s, and by descent.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Albany Bell

abell@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2738

Lot Essay

The building shown in this work appears to be the barn at Cwm Cynfal, Snowdonia. A drawing of the same subject appeared in Piper’s article ‘Colour and Texture’ written for the Architectural Review, Vol. XCV 566, February 1944: the piece highlighted the aesthetic appeal of the weathering of stone buildings, as observed by the Victorian art critic John Ruskin whose outlook had an enduring appeal for Piper. The drawing on the reverse, interesting in its own right, is of Ffynnon Llugwy, one of Piper’s Snowdonia subjects which is also represented by a completed work in the collection of the British Council and dated 1949. However the on-the-spot drawing and inscription in the present lot is likely to date from the time of Piper’s early excursion to the region, in 1943.

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

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