John Piper (artist)

===World War II===
[[File:St Mary le Port, Bristol by John Piper (1940) (Tate N05718).jpg|thumb|''St Mary le Port, Bristol'', 1940, (Tate)]]
[[File:Shelter Experiments, near Woburn, Bedfordshire (Art. IWM ART LD 3859).jpg|thumb|''Shelter Experiments, near Woburn, Bedfordshire'' (Art. IWM ART LD 3859)]]
At the start of World War II, Piper volunteered to work interpreting aerial reconnaissance photographs for the RAF, but was persuaded by [[Sir Kenneth Clark]] to work as an official [[war artist]] for the [[War Artists' Advisory Committee]] (WAAC), which he did from 1940 to 1944 on short-term contracts.<ref name="Gardiner">{{cite book|last=Gardiner|first=Juliet|publisher=Review/Headline Book Publishing|year=2004|title=Wartime, Britain 1939-1945 |isbn=0-7553-1028-4}}</ref> Piper was one of only two artists, the other being [[Meredith Frampton]], commissioned to paint inside [[Air Raid Precaution]] (ARP) control rooms. Early in 1940 Piper was secretly taken to the ARP underground centre in Bristol, where he painted two pictures.<ref name="WW2Art">{{cite book|publisher=Imperial War Museum|year=2007|title=Art from the Second World War|isbn=978-1-904897-66-8}}</ref>

In November 1940 Piper persuaded the WAAC committee that he should be allowed to concentrate on painting bombed churches. This may have reflected his pre-war conversion to the [[Anglican]] faith as much as his previous interest in depicting derelict architectural ruins. The terms of this commission meant Piper would be visiting bombed cities, and other sites, as soon as possible after an air raid: often "the following morning, before the clearing up".<ref name=MlePort/> Hence he arrived in [[Coventry]] the morning after the [[Coventry Blitz]] air raid of 14 November 1940 that resulted in 1000 casualties and the destruction of the medieval [[Coventry Cathedral]]. Piper made drawings of the cathedral and other gutted churches in the city which he subsequently worked up into oil paintings in his studio. Piper's first painting of the bombed cathedral, ''Interior of Coventry Cathedral'', now exhibited at the [[Herbert Art Gallery]], was described by Jeffery Daniels in ''[[The Times]]'' as "all the more poignant for the exclusion of a human element".<ref name="JP&MP"/> Piper's depiction of the east end of the cathedral was printed as a post-card during the war and sold well. In 1962 the same image was used on the cover of the official souvenir guide to the Cathedral."<ref name="JP&MP"/>

After the bombing raids of 24 November 1940 on Bristol, Piper arrived in the city a day, or possibly two, later. Piper only spent a few hours in the city, but his sketches resulted, by January 1941, in three oil paintings of ruined churches: ''St Mary-le-Port, Bristol'', ''The Temple Church'' and ''The Church of the Holy Nativity''.<ref name=MlePort>{{cite web |last=Gale|first=Matthew|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/piper-st-mary-le-port-bristol-n05718/text-catalogue-entry|title=Catelogue entry: ''St.Mary le Port, Bristol'' (1940)|year=1996|access-date=13 July 2015|work=[[Tate]]}}</ref> Piper also painted bombed churches and other buildings in London and [[Newport Pagnell]], and also spent a week painting in Bath after the [[Bath Blitz]] air raids in April 1942.<ref name="DFJenkins"/><ref name="Foss">{{cite book|last=Foss|first=Brain|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2007|title=War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain, 1939-1945 |isbn=978-0-300-10890-3}}</ref> During the summer of 1941, Piper featured in a group exhibition with [[Henry Moore]] and [[Graham Sutherland]] at [[Temple Newsam]] in Leeds. The show was a great success, attracting some 52,000 visitors before touring to other English towns and cities.<ref name="JP&MP"/>

In 1943, the WAAC commissioned Piper to go to the disused slate mine at [[Blaenau Ffestiniog]] where the paintings from the [[National Gallery]] had been evacuated for safety during the [[The Blitz|Blitz]]. Piper found conditions in the underground quarry too difficult to work in but did paint some landscapes in the immediate area. He also toured [[North Wales]] by bicycle, cycling and climbing to photograph and sketch buildings and views in [[Harlech]], in the [[Vale of Ffestiniog]], on [[Cader Idris]] and on [[Aran Fawddwy]].<ref name="MMunroDFJ">{{cite book|author=David Fraser Jenkins & Melissa Munro|publisher=National Museum of Wales|year=2012|title=John Piper The Mountains of Wales - Paintings and Drawings from a Private Collection|isbn=9780720006186}}</ref> Piper had previously visited [[Snowdonia]] in 1939, 1940 and 1941, and often returned there after the war.<ref name=MMunro>{{cite web |last=Munro|first=Melissa|url=http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/articles/2012-04-27/John-Piper-A-Journey-Through-Snowdonia/ |title=John Piper: A Journey Through Snowdonia |date=27 April 2012|access-date=3 November 2015|work=[[National Museum Wales]]}}</ref><ref name=Walesjp>{{cite web|url=https://www.oriel.org.uk/en/artists/piper-john|title=John Piper|year=2014|access-date=27 October 2015|work=Oriel Glyn-y-Weddw|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018204050/https://www.oriel.org.uk/en/artists/piper-john|archive-date=18 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Piper was also commissioned by the WAAC to record a series of experiments on bomb shelter designs and land reclamation work. Alongside [[Vivian Pitchforth]], he painted the bombed interior of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]].<ref name=LNead>{{cite web |last=Nead|first=Lynda|author-link=Lynda Nead|url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/how-john-piper-found-beauty-in-bombed-buildings |title=How John Piper found beauty in bombed buildings |date=18 September 2017|access-date=12 September 2017|work=Art UK}}</ref> In July 1944 the WAAC appointed Piper to the full-time artist post vacated by [[John Platt (artist)|John Platt]] at the [[Ministry of War Transport]]. In this role Piper painted rail and marine transport scenes in [[Cardiff]], [[Bristol]], [[Southampton]] and other south-coast locations.<ref name="Foss"/><ref name=IWMWAAC>{{cite web |author=Imperial War Museum|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050000860 |title=War artists archive: John Piper |access-date=14 June 2015|work=[[Imperial War Museum]]}}</ref> Earlier in the war, he had also painted at the locomotive works in [[Swindon]].<ref name="JP&MP"/>

Throughout the war Piper also undertook work for the [[Recording Britain]] project, initiated by Kenneth Clark, to paint historic sites thought to be at risk from bombing or neglect.<ref name=Asykes>{{cite web |last=Sykes|first=Alan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2013/mar/27/heritage-heritage-durham-v-a-blitz-art  |title=Exhibition at Durham shows art commissioned during the dark days of the Blitz|date=27 March 2013|access-date=15 September 2015|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name="RHump">{{cite book|last=Humphreys|first=Richard|publisher=Tate Publishing|year=2001|title=Tate Britain Companion to British Art|isbn=185-437-3730}}</ref> He also undertook some private commissions during the war. [[Matthew White Ridley, 3rd Viscount Ridley|Viscount Ridley]] commissioned him to produce a series of watercolours of [[Blagdon Hall]] and this led to a commission from the Royal Family for a series of watercolours of [[Windsor Castle]] and [[Windsor Great Park]], which Piper completed by March 1942.<ref name="DFJenkins"/> The King, [[George VI]] was unimpressed with the dark tone of the pictures and commented, ''"You seem to have very bad luck with your weather, Mr Piper"''.<ref name=LCumming/>

Sir [[Osbert Sitwell]] invited Piper to [[Renishaw Hall]] to paint the house and illustrate an autobiography he was writing. Piper made the first of many visits to the estate in 1942. The family retain 70 of his pictures and there is a display at the hall.<ref name=SpaldDT>{{cite web |author=Frances Spalding |author-link=Frances Spalding |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/ways-with-words/7745847/Ways-With-Words-2010-John-Piper-a-sombre-yet-fiery-genius.html |title=Ways With Words 2010: John Piper: a sombre yet fiery genius|date=20 May 2010|access-date=1 January 2013|work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref> Piper painted a similar series at [[Knole House]] for [[Edward Sackville-West]].<ref name="ODNBjp"/> In 1943, Piper received the first of several poster commissions from [[Ealing Studios]]. His draft poster for the film ''[[The Bells Go Down]]'' featured a view of [[St Paul's Cathedral]] seen among monumental ruins.<ref name="WW2Art2015">{{cite book|publisher=Imperial War Museum|year=2015|title=Art from the Second World War|isbn=978-1-904897-66-8|edition=2015}}</ref>