John Piper Limited Edition Signed Lithograph of St Matthias Church

John Piper Signed Limited Edition Lithograph of St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington From A Retrospective of Churches, printed by Curwen Studio, published by Marlborough Fine Art, London, Year of Printing 1964 Lithograph printed in colours on Barcham Green wove paper Dimensions: Sheet size: 81.5 x 58.5cm Signed and numbered 24/70 in pencil by John Piper Condition: This 60-year old vintage lithographic print is in a very good condition for its age. Biographical Note on John Piper Running throughout John Piper’s extraordinarily productive artistic life, that spanned six decades, was a creative tension between a positive commitment to the modern and a profound desire to resuscitate and reinterpret certain English artistic traditions of the past. During his unusually fecund career, Piper was a prolific painter, innovative and skilled printmaker, creator of iconic stained glass images, designer of theatrical and opera costumes and sets, pottery designer, maker of fabrics, tapestries and pyrotechnics, book illustrator and photographer. Piper’s work was essentially a celebration of British landscapes and architecture. His favourite motif was decaying and devastated buildings. Piper’s handling of colour, texture and perspective heightened the visual appeal of his romantic topography. Piper was a visual historian with a mission, an artist fired by boundless energy and enthusiasm. His artistic legacy to Britain and her people that ranged over a variety of subjects and themes depicted a unique blend of versatile artistic imagination, technical skills, innovative prowess and egregarious craftmanship. Piper will best be remembered for his paintings and etchings of our churches, castles and stately homes. Owing to Piper’s mastery of all the media available to him and the far-reaching and wide ranging nature of his artistic creations, it will take a long time to assess fully his contribution to Britain’s cultural heritage After a career spanning the 20th century, British artist John Piper is recognized for his mastery in painting landscapes and architecture. During WWI, Piper was inspired by artists of the avant-garde like his friend, Alexander Calder, though the conclusion of the war provoked a move to representational subjects and inclusion in the Seven and Five Society (dedicated to a “return to order” in post-war art). WWII also had great impact on Piper's work. Selected as an official war artist, Piper depicted the ruins of the England, employing his aptitude for depicting landscapes and imperial homes to portray the loss and aftermath of bombings. Often painting at night with buildings still ablaze, Piper created impassioned representations of the wartime atmosphere, defining a romantic perspective of architecture and topography that he engrained in his work thereafter. John Piper’s creative genius reflected in a wide range of art forms never ceases to fascinate. His images stir the romantic in art collectors and the felicific quality he infused into his artistic creations always uplift their spirit. In his depictions of old buildings one finds a celebration of the hard toil of legions of unsung heroes who helped create our beautiful monuments to architecture As long as English cultural heritage survives as a distinct entity in our world that is getting increasingly globalised, there will be a place in it for John Piper, this most English of artists. Our Comments This lithograph which depicts one of the best creations in John Piper's Retrospect of Churches collection of drawings is in a remarkably good condition for its age. It has not been mounted or framed and, most importantly, not exposed to sunlight. This strikingly attractive lithograph has been looked after by its previous owner/s with extreme care. The colours are still fresh-looking and vibrant. We confidently predict that if carefully looked conservation framed or unframed, following general guidelines for the storage of vintage posters it will retain its freshness and vibrancy when it reaches the exalted status of an antiquarian print in four decades. We opine that it would be difficult to find another imprint of this lithograph that matches ours as to condition.