John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)
Property from the collection of the late Michael Gyselynck Michael Gyselynck began to collect works by John Piper in the 1990s. At the time of his death in 2002 he was emerging as a generous and hospitable authority on the artist. Michael's collection of works by John Piper mainly consisted of works on paper (many will be shown at an exhibition at the River and Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, in 2012), with a smaller number of oil paintings. Michael was eager to build up a collection in which each stylistically distinct phase of Piper's output was represented by a work (or works), regardless of the size or medium. A 1930s abstract painting by John Piper was accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax from the Gyselynck estate in 2005. This now forms a centrepiece in the collection of Modern British Art at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.
John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)

St Mark's Square, Venice

细节
John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)
St Mark's Square, Venice
oil on canvas
28 x 36 in. (71.1 x 91.5 cm.)
Painted in 1960.
拍场告示
Please note this lot has been requested for an exhibition at the River and Rowing Museum, Henley, from 3 March - 8 October 2012.

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拍品专文

David Fraser Jenkins comments on Piper's Venice works; 'his approach to the painting of Venice, on his first working visit in 1958, was through Turner, who was a precedent for his own response to the startling colour of the subjects, particularly grey and pink. The following year he was able to return with a commission from Arthur Jeffress to prepare an exhibition, which was then repeated in 1962 for Rome' (Exhibition catalogue; John Piper 1902-1993, Tate, London, November 1983 - January 1984, p. 126).

Spalding comments: 'His paintings of Venice contrast the white Istrian stone with the greyness of the weather. They also play with the reflections on stone, brick and water. Many of his oils were painted on coarse hessian, stretched over board, and on top of the loosely defined architecture and bursts of illumination he flicked skeins of white paint, thereby suggesting the dematerialising effect of dancing light' (F. Spalding, John Piper: Myfanwy Piper Lives in Art, New York, 2009, p. 395).

We are grateful to Rev. Dr. Stephen Laird for his assistance in preparing the catalogue entries for lots 40-41 and lots 137-138.