John Piper C.H. (1903-1992)

Garn Fawr

Watercolour and gouache on paper; executed 1969

37 x 54 cm

Titled and dated lower left ‘Garn Fawr 12 VIII 69′; signed lower right.

It was Piper’s wife, Myfanwy – whom he met whilst she lived in London with her Welsh family – who first introduced Piper to West Wales in the 1930s. The Pembrokeshire landscape became his muse, as it also did for Graham Sutherland, another great neo-romantic painter. Having lived in various parts of Wales during the post-war period, the Pipers bought a cottage by Garn Fawr, on the Pembrokeshire Coas, in 1962. The volcanic outcrop was the site of an Iron Age hill fort, and had also been used as a high-viewpoint during the First World War.

Piper started out as a mostly abstract artist, but by the 1960s he had moved more towards realism, often focusing on depicting architecture. Here, Piper paints the wet Welsh countryside. Each of the fields is complete with its own crop; the different plants and flowers are designated by characteristic splashes of dark colour.

For other works by the artist and biographical details, click here.

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