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| Jagged Rocks under Tryfan |
If you like the work of John Piper then you will love this exhibition at The National Museum of Wales Gallery till 13th May 2012. It features mainly paintings of Snowdonia made during and just after the second world war, as well as some other work including a couple of collages of landscapes and chapels and a sketch of Hafod.
Accompanying the exhibition is a full colour catalogue with an introduction by David Fraser Jenkins. He says
'It was in Snowdonia in the years after the war that John Piper made what many people have thought were the best of all his paintings'(p11). Its difficult not to agree with this statement but he then goes on to say 'Not one of the drawings looks like it had been made on a sunny day, and the sky is always a mottled grey...'(p12). This seems a strange comment from such a scholar as Fraser Jenkins, as Piper had a reputation for dark melancholic wartime paintings that disregarded the weather, for example his depictions of Windsor castle.
Interestingly the first item in the catalogue is not a mountain but an oil painting of Llanthony Priory. Like the other oil paintings presented here the canvas is heavily gessoed and then marks scratched out to create patterns that are subsequently highlighted with washes of paint. The dark sky and foreground contrast strongly with the pale yellow towers of the church, so much so that the lighter colours almost shine out. This effect is repeated with striking effect in The Rise of the Dovey and Rocky Valley, North Wales. The Rise of the Dovey looks almost like a furnace when viewed from the other side of the room and must owe no small influence to the techniques of JMW Turner.
Only 3 of the works in this exhibition are oil paintings, the majority being watercolours and pen and ink drawings with pastel highlights or resists, on paper. Piper often returned to each drawing and re worked them either using the same media or turning them into oil paintings. The Head of the Nant Ffrancon Pass, Tryfan, Snowdonia is the same view as the Rocky Valley, North Wales.
'By comparing the two works it is clear that the composition and viewpoint are identical. Piper tended to execute his sketches and watercolours on-the-spot outdoors, so it is reasonable to assume that this work, along with other sketches, provided the reference for the oil painting the following year.' (p60)
If these large drawings are indeed done on the spot they are remarkable because they show Piper's faculties of concentration and focus. I have tried (and failed) painting in the mountains and for me the most difficult part was knowing where to start and how to get the vast and awesome mass of rock with its ever changing patterns of light and shade onto even a large piece of paper.
As well as the large drawings there are some lovely small sketches such as LLyn Dinas, Gwynedd and Stone Wall in Snowdonia. Again black ink dominates and Piper makes good use of wax resists. In these images we can really feel his energy, Piper doesn't waste time, once he has eyed a suitable composition he draws frantically with the wax to infer the lighter masses and outlines. Then he follows this with ever darker washes of black ink followed by scribbles and marks made with ink pen or thicker brush. He is not afraid of reworking and overlaying so that one has the sense he is more involved in looking than accurate drawing. Sometimes he finishes off with splashes of colour, some of which may be there, but perhaps on a much smaller scale, such as patches of brightly coloured lichen.
There are two monotype prints in the exhibition called Trawsallt, Cardiganshire and Pistyll Raeadr. They took me by surprise as was not aware Piper had done monotypes. Although not to my taste they do show his willingness to experiment and the strong influence that nineteenth century guidebook illustrations had made on Piper.
According to Fraser Jenkins after 1951 Piper stopped painting mountains and his colours started to intensify at this time, 'The change in his painting was in its colouring, which became much warmer and brighter.'(p20). However the screenprint of Cwm Graianog did appear in the Stones and Bones portfolio of 1978, also shown in this exhibition.
[All page quotations from the catalogue, John Piper, The Mountains of Wales, Paintings and drawings from a private collection. National Museum Cardiff. 11 February-13 May 2012. David Fraser Jenkins and Melissa Munro.]
Only 3 of the works in this exhibition are oil paintings, the majority being watercolours and pen and ink drawings with pastel highlights or resists, on paper. Piper often returned to each drawing and re worked them either using the same media or turning them into oil paintings. The Head of the Nant Ffrancon Pass, Tryfan, Snowdonia is the same view as the Rocky Valley, North Wales.
'By comparing the two works it is clear that the composition and viewpoint are identical. Piper tended to execute his sketches and watercolours on-the-spot outdoors, so it is reasonable to assume that this work, along with other sketches, provided the reference for the oil painting the following year.' (p60)
If these large drawings are indeed done on the spot they are remarkable because they show Piper's faculties of concentration and focus. I have tried (and failed) painting in the mountains and for me the most difficult part was knowing where to start and how to get the vast and awesome mass of rock with its ever changing patterns of light and shade onto even a large piece of paper.
As well as the large drawings there are some lovely small sketches such as LLyn Dinas, Gwynedd and Stone Wall in Snowdonia. Again black ink dominates and Piper makes good use of wax resists. In these images we can really feel his energy, Piper doesn't waste time, once he has eyed a suitable composition he draws frantically with the wax to infer the lighter masses and outlines. Then he follows this with ever darker washes of black ink followed by scribbles and marks made with ink pen or thicker brush. He is not afraid of reworking and overlaying so that one has the sense he is more involved in looking than accurate drawing. Sometimes he finishes off with splashes of colour, some of which may be there, but perhaps on a much smaller scale, such as patches of brightly coloured lichen.
There are two monotype prints in the exhibition called Trawsallt, Cardiganshire and Pistyll Raeadr. They took me by surprise as was not aware Piper had done monotypes. Although not to my taste they do show his willingness to experiment and the strong influence that nineteenth century guidebook illustrations had made on Piper.
According to Fraser Jenkins after 1951 Piper stopped painting mountains and his colours started to intensify at this time, 'The change in his painting was in its colouring, which became much warmer and brighter.'(p20). However the screenprint of Cwm Graianog did appear in the Stones and Bones portfolio of 1978, also shown in this exhibition.
[All page quotations from the catalogue, John Piper, The Mountains of Wales, Paintings and drawings from a private collection. National Museum Cardiff. 11 February-13 May 2012. David Fraser Jenkins and Melissa Munro.]
