John Piper: The Mountains of Wales - Paintings and Drawings from a Private Collection
John Piper
Oil on canvas on board
Lent from a Private Collection
© The Estate of John Piper
John Piper
Oil on canvas on board
Lent from a Private Collection
© The Estate of John Piper
This exhibition showcases an extraordinary private collection of works by John Piper.
Piper lived and worked intermittently in north Wales over a period of around 15 years during the 1940s and 1950s.
Piper is a major figure in British art of the twentieth century. His work encompasses portraiture, landscape, architectural studies, still life, ceramics and designs for stained glass and tapestry.
Piper’s interest in landscape and architecture extended to all areas of Britain, including Snowdonia.
His dramatic depictions of the mountains of north Wales provide the subject of this exhibition.
This exhibition presents an outstanding group of views in Snowdonia and places these in context.
The mountains of North Wales provided a great source of inspiration to Piper from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, during which time he rented two cottages, Pentre and Bodesi, in the Snowdonia area.
Using these as a base, he travelled round this glacial landscape, capturing the rugged beauty of the mountains.
Piper mainly worked outside sketching the mountains and lakes in all seasons and weather conditions. The effect this had on the colours of the rocks played an immense part in his work.
In addition to the effect of light and weather, Piper took a great interest in the geology of the area. Many of the paintings and drawings exhibited here demonstrate the artist’s keen eye for geological detail.
You can take a tour of some of the sites featured in John Piper's paintings on 21 April with Melissa Munro, Derek Williams Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Dr Richard Bevins, Keeper of Geology at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.
The exhibition has received generous support from the Colwinston Trust, the Paul Mellon Foundation and the Derek Williams Trust. It is accompanied by a catalogue by the exhibition curator Melissa Munro, including an essay by David Fraser Jenkins.
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