John Piper (artist)

===Later life===
[[Image:Baptistry Window -Coventry Cathedral-5July2008.jpg|thumb|upright|The Baptistry Window at [[Coventry Cathedral]]]]
From 1950 Piper began working in [[stained glass]] in partnership with [[Patrick Reyntiens]], whom he had met through John Betjeman.<ref name=vanda>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/christ-between-saints-peter-and-paul/ Christ between St Peter & St Paul]. Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed February 2014.</ref> Their first completed commission, for the chapel at [[Oundle School]], led to [[Basil Spence]] commissioning them to design the stained-glass [[baptistry]] window for the new [[Coventry Cathedral]].<ref name="NPatel">{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/painting-in-coloured-light-the-modern-stained-glass-designs-of-john-piper? |title=Painting in coloured light: the modern stained glass designs of John Piper|date=31 May 2021|author=Natalie Patel|website=[[Art UK]]|accessdate= 3 June 2021}}</ref> They produced an abstract design that occupies the full height of the bowed baptistry, and comprises 195 panes, ranging from white to deep blue.<ref name="NPatel"/><ref name="SGlass">{{cite book|author=Judith Neiswander & Caroline Swish|publisher=The Intelligent Layman Publishers Ltd |year=2005|title=Stained & Art Glass, A Unique History of Glass Design and Making|isbn=094779865X}}</ref> Their depiction of ''The Supper at Emmaus'' was installed at [[Llandaff Cathedral]] in Cardiff during 1953.<ref name="ERowan">{{cite book|author=Eric Rowan|publisher=Welsh Arts Council, University of Wales Press|year=1985|title=Art in Wales: An Illustrated History 1850-1980|isbn=0708308546}}</ref>

Piper and Reyntiens went on to design large stained-glass windows for the chapel of [[Robinson College]], Cambridge, and ''The Land Is Bright'', a large window in the [[Washington National Cathedral]], as well as windows for many smaller churches.<ref name="NPatel"/><ref name="SGlass"/> [[Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral]], completed in 1967, features an innovative stained glass lantern by Piper and Reyntiens. The lantern panels were cemented together with epoxy resin within thin concrete ribs, a technique invented for the job. Side chapels were also framed in glass to their designs.<ref name=stock>{{cite web|title=Taking Stock - Catholic Churches of England & Wales|url=http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Archdiocese-of-Liverpool/Liverpool-Metropolitan-Cathedral-of-Christ-the-King|year=2017|access-date=3 July 2017|publisher=Patrimony Committee of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales|archive-date=14 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314042624/http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Archdiocese-of-Liverpool/Liverpool-Metropolitan-Cathedral-of-Christ-the-King|url-status=dead}}</ref> Piper and Reyntiens also made windows for the [[King George VI Memorial Chapel]] in [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle|St George's Chapel]] at [[Windsor Castle]].<ref name=Times69>{{cite news|title=News in Brief|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS17789046/TTDA?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=db169109|accessdate=|work=[[The Times]]|issue=57516|date=22 March 1969|page=1}}</ref>

Piper also designed windows for [[Eton College Chapel]], which were executed by Reyntiens. In total, Piper designed over 60 stained glass window commissions.<ref name="NPatel"/> The last of these was the 1984 memorial window to John Betjeman in All Saints Church at [[Farnborough, Berkshire|Farnborough]] in Berkshire.<ref name="NPatel"/>

In 1962 Piper completed the ''Spirit of Energy'' murals in fibreglass on the outside of the 1950s built former North Thames Gas Board headquarters on Peterborough Road in Fulham. The building is now known as the Piper Building and the murals were Grade II listed in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=The Battle to Save 20th-Century Murals in Britain |url=https://www.worldofinteriors.com/story/20th-century-murals-in-britain-campaign |access-date=2022-12-30 |website=The World Of Interiors |language=en-GB}}</ref>

[[File:John Piper tapestry, Chichester Cathedral - geograph.org.uk - 816472.jpg|thumb|Tapestry for Chichester Cathedral]]
In 1966 [[Walter Hussey]], the [[Dean (Christianity)|Dean]] of [[Chichester Cathedral]], commissioned Piper to produce a tapestry to enliven the dark area around the high altar of the cathedral. Piper had designed the [[cope]] presented to Hussey when he left his previous post in 1955, and for Chichester he produced a very brightly coloured tapestry with an abstract design of the Holy Trinity flanked by the [[Classical element|Elements]] and by the Evangelists.<ref name="vanRaay" /><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.chichestercathedral.org.uk/visiting-us/cathedral-plan/delve-deeper-high-altar-john-piper-tapestry |title= High Altar & John Piper Tapestry |publisher= Chichester Cathedral |access-date= 17 January 2023}}</ref> Although the tapestry received a mixed, mostly negative, reaction from the public, Piper was commissioned to create a set of clerical vestments to complement the work in 1967.<ref name="vanRaay" /> Piper also created tapestries for [[Hereford Cathedral]]<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/9208626.renowned-artist-john-piper-on-display-at-hereford-museum-and-art-gallery/ |title= Renowned artist John Piper on display at Hereford Museum and Art Gallery |date= 22 August 2011 |work= Herefordshire Times |access-date= 17 January 2023}}</ref> and [[Llandaff Cathedral]] in Cardiff.

Piper made working visits to south Wales in both 1936 and 1939, and from 1943 to 1951, he made an annual painting trip to [[Snowdonia]]. He did not paint in the Welsh mountains after 1951 but did visit, and painted in [[Aberaeron]] in 1954.<ref name="MMunroDFJ"/> Piper's Snowdonia paintings and drawings were exhibited in New York in September 1947 and in May 1950, on both occasions at [[Curt Valentin]]'s Buchholz Gallery. The former show was Piper's first large solo show in the United States.<ref name="MMunroDFJ"/>

For the [[Festival of Britain]] in 1951, the [[Arts Council of Great Britain]] commissioned Piper to create a large mural, ''The Englishman's Home'', which consisted of 42 plywood panels and depicted dwellings ranging from cottages to castles. The mural was displayed in a large open porch on the South Bank festival site.<ref name=Upstone>{{cite web |last=Upstone|first=Robert|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/robert-upstone/modern-british-murals_b_2693395.html|title=Modern British Murals|date=17 February 2013 |access-date=4 April 2017|work=Huffington Post}}</ref> Later in the 1950s, Piper produced pioneering designs for furnishing fabrics for [[Arthur Sanderson & Sons]] Ltd and David Whitehead Ltd, as part of a movement to bring art and design to the masses.<ref name=fabric>{{cite web|title=John Piper: the Fabric of Modernism|url=http://pallant.org.uk/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/main-galleries/john-piper-the-fabric-of-modernism/john-piper-the-fabric-of-modernism|year=2016|access-date=9 May 2016|publisher=Pallant House Gallery|archive-date=7 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507110128/http://pallant.org.uk/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/main-galleries/john-piper-the-fabric-of-modernism/john-piper-the-fabric-of-modernism|url-status=dead}}</ref> He also designed a number of dust jackets for books, frequently depicting both natural and architectural forms, often in a state of decay, within theatrical framing.<ref name="MSalisbury">{{cite book|last=Salisbury|first=Martin|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2017|title=The Illustrated Dust Jacket|isbn=9780500519134}}</ref>

Piper continued to write extensively on modern art in books and articles.<ref>"The Listener articles 1933–"Young English Painters: Contemporary English Drawing"</ref><ref>"Lost, A Valuable Object" an essay in Myfanwy Piper's anthology "The Painter's Object", 1937.</ref><ref>"England's Early Sculptors", ''[[Architectural Review]]'', 1937.</ref> From 1946 until 1954, Piper served as a trustee of the [[Tate Gallery]].<ref name=tate/> Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he frequently visited [[Pembrokeshire]] to paint.<ref name="PostWales">{{cite book|author=Peter W. Jones & Isabel Hitchman|publisher=Gomer Press|year=2015|title=Post War to Post Modern: A Dictionary of Artists in Wales |isbn=978-184851-8766}}</ref> He was a theatre [[set designer]], including for the [[Kenton Theatre]] in [[Henley-on-Thames]]. He designed many of the premiere productions of [[Benjamin Britten]]'s operas at [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera]], the [[Royal Opera House]], [[La Fenice]] and the [[Aldeburgh Festival]], as well as for some of the operas of [[Alun Hoddinott]].<ref name="DFJenkins"/> Piper also designed firework displays, most notably for the [[Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II]] in 1977.<ref name=Standpoint>{{cite web|last=McEwan|first=John|url=http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/2066/full|title=Bad luck with the Weather|date=September 2009|access-date=2 April 2017|work=[[Standpoint (magazine)|Standpoint]]|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031709/http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/2066/full|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Piper was made an Honorary Member of the [[Printmakers Council]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Sixties Pressure Group {{!}} Printmakers Council|url=https://printmakerscouncil.com/a-sixties-pressure-group/|access-date=2022-01-05|language=en-GB}}</ref>

John Piper died at his home at [[Fawley Bottom]], Buckinghamshire, where he had lived for most of his life with his wife Myfanwy. His children are Clarissa Lewis, the painter [[Edward Piper]] (deceased), Susannah Brooks and Sebastian Piper; his grandchildren include painter [[Luke Piper]] and sculptor [[Henry Piper]].