John Piper

Marlborough Fine Art, London
Curt Valentin Galleries, New York
Private Collection, U.S.A.
Private Collection, U.K.

San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Exhibition of Six British Artists, 1950, cat. no.362.50; 
Minneapolis, Minneapolis Art Institute, temporary loan, details untraced.

The board is sound. There is some surface dirt. The surface has Piper's characteristic workings, including scratching into the surface. There are some areas of drying cracks to the dark pigments of the left hand edge, otherwise in good original condition. The painting is unglazed, held in a simple gilded and painted box frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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The darkest years of WWII saw a high level of isolationist introspection amongst artists and the identification of the architectural heritage, the tangible evidence of the past, with the nationalism of the Churchillian call to arms was almost inevitable. The Recording Britain project, supported by the American Pilgrim Trust, ran parallel to the official War Artists scheme, and many of those painters involved produced work for both. However, it was Piper who was to become the artist with whom the image of the architecture of the British countryside was most closely identified. In many ways, this subject was the complete antithesis of the modernist ethic of the pre-war years and stood as a potent symbol of the past status quo, and yet it seems to fit easily into his oeuvre. Drawing on the precedents of the Romantic movement and his own knowledge and enthusiasm for British architecture, Piper was able to pull off the enormously difficult task of combining these images of the past with a technique which used a variety of media, including collage, to create a manner which is distinctly his own.