Skip to content

Goldmark Gift Ideas

Featured Art | John Piper 'Coventry Cathedral' Anniversary Screen Prints

john-piper-coventry-cathedral-screen-prints-after-oil-paintings

In the glowing yellows and reds of John Piper’s Coventry Cathedral paintings, you can almost feel the lick of the flames, smell the acrid smoke, as the building burnt to the ground.

Born in 1903, Piper was one of the most important British artists of the 20th century. With a life that spanned the last 100 years, he witnessed many of the major stylistic and thematic developments that rocked the art world throughout the pre- and post-war period.

During the Second World War, the city of Coventry was subjected to heavy air bombardment. On 14th November 1940 one particularly devastating air raid hit the cathedral, reducing the church to mounds of burning rubble. An Official War Artist, Piper drove to the site of the ruins the very next morning to find the fires still raging some 12 hours after the air raid had ended.

john-piper-coventry-cathedral-screen-prints-after-oil-paintings-interior-detaildetail from Coventry Cathedral interior screen print

Determined to record the damage done, Piper painted two oils - an interior and exterior perspective - in his typically bold and emphatic style. The unforgettable images he produced committed to memory the extraordinary impact the Blitz had upon the British urban landscape, immortalizing a profound and poignant moment.

75 years after that fateful bombing run, the Goldmark Gallery have produced limited edition screen prints after these two paintings to raise funds for the resurrected cathedral. Handmade by master printmakers in our atelier, each of the 20 colours in these prints must be applied separately and painstakingly through individual screens, making for a complex process that would make the print innovator Piper proud.

john-piper-coventry-cathedral-screen-prints-after-oil-paintings-exterior-detaildetail from Coventry Cathedral exterior screen print

£200 from the sale of each print is being donated to the Cathedral, a cause Piper, who later designed the building’s staggering stained glass Baptistry Windows, would no doubt have championed. Already over £30,000 has been raised in support of the magnificent building.

Steeped in historical context and a reminder of Piper’s supreme ability as an architectural artist, these prints would make for a worthy addition to any collection.

VIEW WORK FOR SALE
Back to Discover
Vendor:
John Piper

Interior of Coventry Cathed...

Screenprint
Regular price £495
Regular price Sale price £495
Vendor:
John Piper

John Piper at Goldmark

Exhibition catalogue
Regular price £10
Regular price Sale price £10
Vendor:
John Piper

Eye & Camera: Red, Blue...

Screenprint
Regular price £750
Regular price Sale price £750
Vendor:
John Piper

Blenheim Bridge Triptych

Lithograph
Regular price £850
Regular price Sale price £850
Vendor:
John Piper

John Piper a Catalogue Rais...

Book
Regular price £475
Regular price Sale price £475
Vendor:
John Piper

Gedney, Lincolnshire: a tow...

Lithograph
Regular price £1,950
Regular price Sale price £1,950
Vendor:
John Piper

Stones and Bones XXIII

Screenprint
Regular price £1,250
Regular price Sale price £1,250
Vendor:
John Piper

Blenheim Gates

Etching
Sold
Vendor:
John Piper

Dinton Folly

Screenprint
Sold
Vendor:
John Piper

Bullslaughter Bay, Pembroke...

Autolithograph
Sold