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John Piper, Myfanwy Piper
Lives in Art
Frances Spalding
624 pages
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Fully illustrated throughout with 80 black-and-white in-text illustrations and 80 colour plates
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246x189mm
978-0-19-956761-4
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Hardback
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17 September 2009
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- The first comprehensive account of the life and work of John Piper, including many of the overlooked tributaries into which his creativity overflowed
- Contains in-depth research into all the major commissions within John Piper's lengthy career, plus much new information on his work in print-making, stained glass, illustration, theatre design - and fireworks
- Uncovers the life and work of Myfanwy Piper; her collaborations with the composers Benjamin Britten and Alun Hoddinott, and her part in the avant-garde movement in English art during the 1930s
- Demonstrates the key part the Pipers played in defining 'Englishness' in the mid-20th century - not least through the iconic Shell Guides
- Shows their huge network of friendships and collaborations, with Benjamin Britten, Kenneth Clark, John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and others
- Draws on a mass of original research, including interviews with those who had either known or worked with the Pipers
- Fully illustrated throughout with black-and-white in-text illustrations and colour plates
This book is about a shared journey made by John and Myfanwy Piper who early on settled down in a small hamlet on the edge of the Chilterns, whence they proceeded to produce work which placed them centre stage in the cultural landscape of the twentieth century. Here, too, they fed and entertained many visitors, among them Kenneth Clark, John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster, Benjamin Britten, and the Queen Mother. Their creative partnership encompasses not only a long marriage and numerous private and professional vicissitudes, but also a genuine legacy of lasting achievements in the visual arts, literature and music.
Frances Spalding also sheds new light on the story of British art in the 1930s. In the middle of this decade John Piper
and Myfanwy Evans (they did not marry until 1937) were at the forefront of avant-garde activities in England, Myfanwy editing the most advanced art magazine of the day and John working alongside Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and others. But as the decade progressed and the political situation in Europe worsened, they changed their allegiances, John Piper investigating in his art a sense of place, belonging, history, memory, and the nature of national identity, all issues that are very much to the fore in today's world.
Myfanwy Piper is best known as 'Golden Myfanwy', Betjeman's muse and for her work as librettist with Benjamin Britten. John Piper was an extraordinarily prolific artist in many media, his fertile career stretching over six decades and
involving him in many changes of style. Having been an abstract painter in the 1930s, he became best known for his landscapes and architectural scenes in a romantic style. This core interest, in the English and Welsh landscape and the built environment, developed in him a sensibility that took in almost everything, from gin palaces to painted quoins, from ruined cottages to country houses, from Victorian shop fronts to what is nowadays called industrial archeology. His capacious and divided sensibility made him defender of many aspects of the English landscape and the built environment, while in his art he became an heir of that great tradition encompassing Wordsworth and Blake, Turner, Ruskin, and Samuel Palmer. He was torn between the pleasures of an abstract language liberated from time
and place and those embedded in the locale, in buildings, geography, and history. Today, this expansive contradictoriness seems quintessentially modern, his divided response finding an echo in our own ambivalence towards modernity.
Both Pipers created what seemed to many observers an ideal way of life, involving children, friendships, good food, humour, the pleasures of a garden, work, and creativity. Running through their lives is a fertile tension between a commitment to the new and a desire to reinvigorate certain native traditions. This tension produced work that is passionate and experimental. 'Only those who live most vividly in the present', John Russell observed of John and Myfanwy Piper, 'deserve to inherit the
past'.Readership: Those with an interest in twentieth-century British art, literature, and opera, as well as those with an interest in British architectural heritage, especially church buildings
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Frances Spalding, Art historian, biographer, and critic; Professor of Art History at Newcastle University
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"Spalding's approach, sifting through and collating a vast quantity of material, has produced a valuable and deeply researched account of the Piper's life together..." - Ruth Guilding, Times Literary Supplement "A remarkable achievement and ... an invaluable source book for Piper Enthusiasts for years to come." - Andrew Lambirth, The Art Newspaper "Commendably thorough." - William Feaver, London Review of Books "A valuable and deeply researched account of the piper's life together." - Ruth Guilding, Times Literary Supplement "Impeccably researched." - Serena Davies, Daily Telegraph "There are riches on offer beginning with
Frances Spalding's substantial double biography." - Sunday Times, 29.11.09 "She has triumphantly knitted together all the multifarious Piper aspects." - Roderic Dunnett, The Independent "Brims over with insights and revelations." - Times Higher Education, Timothy Mowl "This timely book engenders optimism." - Timothy Mowl, Times Higher Education "Engrossing and scholarly study." - Timothy Mowl, Times Higher Education "Handsomely produced...Spalding's unrivalled knowledge of the Pipers' world captures the issues clearly, sharply." - Michael White, The Tablet "Excellent and expert biography...touches of judicious speculation and
clear-sighted glosses." "Spalding...presents us with fascinating and gripping biographical material, but also offers us vivid images of a now vanished England." - Val Hennessy, Daily Mail "Frances Spalding's copious and erudite biography of John and his art critic wife, Myfanwy, describes his art with considerable authority." - Serena Davies, Sunday Telegraph "A well-executed and meticulously researched work." "Oxford University Press is to be congratulated on publishing this work on the scale the Pipers deserved." - Bevis Hillier, The Spectator "A fair verdict would be:..."this could not have been done better"." - Bevis Hillier, The Spectator "Spalding
comprehensively (but never tediously) covers his work in all its staggering versatility." - Bevis Hillier, The Spectator "Magnificent... Just occasionally, one comes across a book of which one can say, "This could not have been done better." Spalding's book is in that rare class." - Bevis Hillier, The Spectator
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Preface
Part I
1: John
2: 'That's Painting!'
3: Stained Glass and Coastal Gaiety
4: Orchard's Angel
Part II
5: Going Modern
6: Axis
7: Abstract and Concrete
8: 'Look, Stranger, at this island now'
Part III
9: New and shattered circumstances
10: Decrepit Glory, Pleasing Decay
11: 'The Weather in Our Souls'
12: Fawley Bum
Part IV
13: War Artist
14: Stormy Weather
15: Renishaw and the Sitwells
16: Topographical mania
17: Sly Liaisons
18: Stern Watching and Mysterious Sympathy
Part V
19: Return to Peace
20: Working for the Stage and with Britten
21: 'A firm shape among shadows'
22: Cranko and Britten
23: The Turn of the Screw
24: Textiles, Mosaics, Murals, and early Stained Glass
25: Coventry and Cranks
Part VI
26: Ambiguous Venice
27: Dark Glasses at Evensong
28: Church Commissions
29: Owen Wingrave
30: Shell Guides
31: Pottery, Tapestries, and Fireworks
32: Death in Venice
Part VII
33: Deaths and Entrances
34: An English Garden
35: Myfanwy
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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