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Lot Essay
During 1939-1940 John Piper’s personal style was evolving rapidly and it is from this period that some of his most distinctive and immediately recognisable paintings emerged, with the current lot being a significant and well-known example. The work displays a collage-style juxtaposition of forms, colours and textures, reminding us that during most of the 1930s Piper, influenced by the modern movement, was a leading British abstract painter. The painting, which is topographical as well as abstract, depicts a chapel in a hamlet called Tredrissi which is a few miles north of Nevern in the Pembrokeshire/Cardiganshire border area in Wales which John Piper and his wife Myfanwy visited during a tour in 1939. The building, now a dwelling, still exists along with the graveyard and its distinctive monuments.
At this stage of his career, purchasers of paintings by John Piper, though few in number, were typically highly distinguished figures within the arts establishment. One of them was Sir Michael Sadler (1861-1943), an important and progressive collector of nineteenth and early twentieth century paintings and sculpture. He became known personally to John Piper in the late 1920s. The current lot was purchased directly from John Piper's 1940 show at the Leicester Galleries, not by Sir Michael himself, but by his son, the writer and publisher Michael Sadleir (1888-1957), who had adopted a different spelling of the family name so as to avoid being confused with his father. After his father's death in 1943 at least one other major painting by John Piper came into Sadleir's possession.
We are very grateful to Revd Dr Stephen Laird FSA for preparing this catalogue entry.
At this stage of his career, purchasers of paintings by John Piper, though few in number, were typically highly distinguished figures within the arts establishment. One of them was Sir Michael Sadler (1861-1943), an important and progressive collector of nineteenth and early twentieth century paintings and sculpture. He became known personally to John Piper in the late 1920s. The current lot was purchased directly from John Piper's 1940 show at the Leicester Galleries, not by Sir Michael himself, but by his son, the writer and publisher Michael Sadleir (1888-1957), who had adopted a different spelling of the family name so as to avoid being confused with his father. After his father's death in 1943 at least one other major painting by John Piper came into Sadleir's possession.
We are very grateful to Revd Dr Stephen Laird FSA for preparing this catalogue entry.