John Piper Prints: The Jam Factory (From Oxford Mail)

John Piper Prints: The Jam Factory

Fergus Madden is holding an exhibition of original prints by John Piper at The Jam Factory, Oxford’s arts centre in Park End Street. A new film on Piper will also be shown, and copies of Frances Spalding’s new biography of the artist will be on sale.

John Piper Prints: The Jam Factory

John Piper (1903-1992) studied at the Richmond School of Art and the Royal College of Art. He became one of the best loved British artists of the 20th century and always had strong links with Oxfordshire. He lived for many years at Fawley Bottom near Henley-on-Thames, having been enchanted by this part of England.

He is best known for his lithographs and screenprints of castles, ancient ruins, great houses and chateaux set in romantic landscapes under brooding skies, as in his 1977 silkscreen study of Milton Ernest Hall above.

He has been described as one of the British Neo-romantics, a group of artists linked with a revival of the 19th-century visionary tradition found in the works of, for example, Samuel Palmer. He is also known as a stage designer, graphic artist and writer – in short, a powerful force in British art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a film about the artist, featuring interviews with Rigby Graham, Richard Ingrams, Sir Donald Sinden, the late Sir Reresby Sitwell, and Frances Spalding, whose biography of Piper is published by Oxford University Press. A book and DVD of the film will be on sale at the exhibition, which runs from November 20 to 29, from 10am to 11pm daily.