Oedipus Rex

Details

John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)
Oedipus Rex
signed 'John Piper' (lower right)
pencil, brush, black ink, watercolour, bodycolour and collage
15 x 22 in. (38.1 x 55.9 cm.)
Executed in 1945

Provenance

with Buchholz Gallery, New York, where purchased by Jean Hatton Duffy, 1948.

Literature

S. John Woods, John Piper, London, 1954, p. 220.
A. West, John Piper, London, 1979, p. 122, pl. 81.

Exhibited

Washington D.C., Phillips Memorial Gallery, Three Exhibitions: Recent Paintings by Karl Knaths, Bernice Cross, John Piper, March-April 1948, no. 1.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Piper was made a Trustee of the Tate Gallery in 1944, and shortly afterwards started on a series of stage designs for Olivier's Oedipus Rex at the Old Vic Theatre Company, and Britten's Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring.

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