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The Penguin Modern Painters
John Piper
pp. 152, color illustrations
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1944
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 6, 2023
John Piper always wanted to be an artist but his father dissuaded him and he joined the family law firm. He hated it and after three years he turned it in and decided that his future lay in art.
When he went exploring the Surrey countryside on his bicycle as a youngster, he had honed his artistic skills by painting churches and monuments so when he left the law firm he attended Richmond School of Art to perfect his techniques. In his introductory essay, John Betjeman states, 'He had always intended to be a painter, and I do not wish to imply that his adoption of a career was the random choosing which a dilettante makes in selecting a hobby.'
His talents were quickly spotted and Robert Wellington was one of the first to see his merit and he arranged for Piper to hold a one-man exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in 1933. He dabbled in abstract art and joined with other artists in starting the magazine 'Axis', an English magazine of abstract art. But overall abstract art was an insufficient outlet for him and his other interests helped drag him away as he took more interest in books of descriptive poetry, guide books, aquatints and steel engravings. He also had a strong interest in stained glass and from 1938 to the outbreak of war he toured England and Wales for sights of stained glass, churches with box-pews, waterfalls, country houses, Yorkshire caves, ruins and early industrial scenery..
He also studied printing processes so as familiar with lithography, wood engraving, typography, etching, aquatinting and even set designing; for the last named he designed sets for Stephen Spender's 'Trial of Judge' at the Unity Theatre in 1938.
All his diligence paid off for Betjeman got him involved in working on the series of Shell Guides that he was producing and then he was engaged as a war artist, initially to paint an ARP control room. This did not interest him terribly but his work blossomed when the bombs fell and he began producing a series of oil paintings 'using his theory of colour to keep the drama of a newly fallen bomb alive'. And in 1941 HM Queen commissioned him to draw Windsor and he produced a series of topographical watercolours; he later painted scenes of Sir Osbert Sitwell's Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire.
There are 32 examples of his work, covering all genres, after Betjeman's splendid opening essay and together these two parts to the book make it a splendid read.
When he went exploring the Surrey countryside on his bicycle as a youngster, he had honed his artistic skills by painting churches and monuments so when he left the law firm he attended Richmond School of Art to perfect his techniques. In his introductory essay, John Betjeman states, 'He had always intended to be a painter, and I do not wish to imply that his adoption of a career was the random choosing which a dilettante makes in selecting a hobby.'
His talents were quickly spotted and Robert Wellington was one of the first to see his merit and he arranged for Piper to hold a one-man exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in 1933. He dabbled in abstract art and joined with other artists in starting the magazine 'Axis', an English magazine of abstract art. But overall abstract art was an insufficient outlet for him and his other interests helped drag him away as he took more interest in books of descriptive poetry, guide books, aquatints and steel engravings. He also had a strong interest in stained glass and from 1938 to the outbreak of war he toured England and Wales for sights of stained glass, churches with box-pews, waterfalls, country houses, Yorkshire caves, ruins and early industrial scenery..
He also studied printing processes so as familiar with lithography, wood engraving, typography, etching, aquatinting and even set designing; for the last named he designed sets for Stephen Spender's 'Trial of Judge' at the Unity Theatre in 1938.
All his diligence paid off for Betjeman got him involved in working on the series of Shell Guides that he was producing and then he was engaged as a war artist, initially to paint an ARP control room. This did not interest him terribly but his work blossomed when the bombs fell and he began producing a series of oil paintings 'using his theory of colour to keep the drama of a newly fallen bomb alive'. And in 1941 HM Queen commissioned him to draw Windsor and he produced a series of topographical watercolours; he later painted scenes of Sir Osbert Sitwell's Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire.
There are 32 examples of his work, covering all genres, after Betjeman's splendid opening essay and together these two parts to the book make it a splendid read.
January 10, 2024
The book I read is actually called Don’t Waste Your Life. The author was John Piper. However, it wasn’t listed in goodreads.
All in all, excellent read. It talks about a man who, in old age, realized he had “wasted his life”, going in the other direction from his true purpose in life. The book then discussed many ways in which one can live a life for the work of God.
All in all, excellent read. It talks about a man who, in old age, realized he had “wasted his life”, going in the other direction from his true purpose in life. The book then discussed many ways in which one can live a life for the work of God.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews