Life in paint
Words by Mercedes Smith
Introducing a special retrospective of John Piper’s work
This autumn, Lighthouse Gallery presents an exhibition that celebrates the 80th birthday of John Piper, one of Cornwall’s best loved and most recognisable artists. “John’s contribution to Cornish art is significant,” says curator and Lighthouse Gallery Director Tracey Spry. “His work is as much part of the West Cornwall landscape as any landmark. We sell his paintings to collectors all over the world.” This important exhibition arose from a conversation between John and Tracey over a year ago, at his studio near Land’s End. “John and I were chatting about his forthcoming birthday, and he asked me to put together a retrospective which looks back across his career. I was so honoured to be asked, and to be honest a little daunted at the same time! A retrospective like this is such an important part of any artist’s story.”
That story began at Humphry Davy School in Penzance, where John’s talents were recognized by an artist who is now considered a Master of British Modernism. “I used to draw as a teenager,” says John, “but it wasn’t until I was 17 that my interest in art really began, when I moved from Essex to Cornwall and attended Humphry Davy School. Because my first year of A Levels in Essex were not compatible with those at my new school, I should have started the year again but decided not to. The headmaster wasn’t happy about that. He told me I was a waste of space, and that I should ‘go to the art room.”
That teacher’s careless and shortsighted instruction proved pivotal in the very best way. It put John into the orbit of sculptor Denis Mitchell, who was to have a profound effect on his future. “The school had a great art teacher, but also a technician who helped run the art department. That was Denis, and although I didn’t know it at the time, he was a struggling sculptor who worked for Barbara Hepworth. Later, of course, he became an internationally recognised sculptor in his own right. He used to talk to me about painting in St Ives, and suggested I visit the Penwith Gallery, which was founded by Nicholson, Hepworth, Heron, Lanyon and other important artists.”
John took Denis’ advice and began to visit exhibitions and read up on as many painters as he could. “That Easter, in 1964, I went to the Penwith and was taken aback by the paintings they had on show,” he says. “I was fascinated with the work. By the time I left the gallery that day I was determined to become an artist, so my spare time was spent making painting after painting.” In his twenties John began teaching art at Penzance Secondary Modern. “The Head of Department there was painter Michael Praed, and he really helped me with my work. We became lifelong friends and have held many exhibitions together.” Like most young artists, John had to work hard to balance the demands of daily life with the energy and focus required to succeed as a painter. “John told me that when he started to paint full time, he was supporting a young family and was at the easel from dawn until dusk, experimenting, working through different subject matter, and finding his own style,” says Tracey, “and he discovered that his paintings of cottages in the Cornish landscape seemed to resonate with collectors.”
Those paintings, with their exaggerated low or high horizon line, are among John’s most recognized images. Importantly, they display a simplicity of composition and colour that has influenced Cornish landscape painting ever since. “It was Denis who taught me that I didn’t need to use a whole array of colours” says John, “and to this day I only use three colours in my work – a middle red, a middle blue and a middle yellow – plus white. The high and low horizons came about from my early interest in Abstract art. I realised that a painting does not need to be filled, it needs space. I learned the saxophone years ago and my teacher impressed upon me the importance of space between notes, that these spaces are as important as the notes themselves. I apply that same idea to constructing a painting.”
John’s technical knowledge of building the image, and of handling his materials, are crucial to his passion for painting. “John once told me that what he loves most is the process of applying paint,” says Tracey. “It almost doesn’t matter what the subject is, that’s secondary.” Those subjects have been many and varied. Alongside John’s iconic landscapes there are nudes, moored fishing boats, tall cliffs and standing stones, and Tracey’s curation reflects that. “I wanted to share John’s journey as an artist,” she says, “to take the audience back to his paintings of figures, of boats, to the importance of the blackthorn tree in his work, and to those hamlets tucked into the landscape against huge, dramatic skies. I also wanted to showcase the painterly joy of the works he has made in recent years, which are so richly textural and anchored by a vibrant underpainting. John’s studio is huge, so at first, we both felt overwhelmed at the idea of putting together a collection that represents the last forty years. We had to approach the job methodically, so we went through each area of the barn and each group of work one at a time.
We had the garden outside literally full of artwork, with paintings propped up against every available bush, tree and garden chair, so that we could decide on a cohesive collection. It was incredibly hard to rule paintings out, and it took three studio visits until the whole show was selected. What was special about having such open access to John’s studio was the unusual paintings I came across. For me, one of the most fascinating is a self-portrait. John looks to be in his twenties in the painting, and it is quite edgy. It is an image of a young man setting out on his life as a painter, with a pencil or a brush between his fingers. It has the dark, brooding quality of Joy Wolfenden Brown’s work. I really love it.”
Other works in the show are also of the human figure. “That period of painting was the result of my love of Modigliani, of Cezanne’s figures, and the watercolour sketches of Rodin,” John explains. “It was also inspired by my dear friend, the late John Emanuel, who used to paint the most magnificent nudes. They were so simple, with very little detail and just a few descriptive lines, but they conveyed great strength.” It is John’s paintings of West Cornwall, however, that have remained his most admired and career defining works. “My obsession with painting has reflected my love of Cornwall” he says, “in particular, far west Penwith. I love the starkness of the landscape, and the small groups of farm buildings and miners’ cottages, many of which were derelict when I began drawing them in the sixties. I love the lichen covered granite, and its wonderful textures.
I have spent many hours walking the coast path from Land’s End to Zennor and St Ives, making drawings of rocky outcrops and isolated cottages and barns. Many painters have explored different styles and forms, and then ultimately come back to landscape painting. I think that, historically, that’s a very English thing. Where my work sits in that history is not for me to say, but what I will say is that I am constantly surprised that people like my paintings so much, and that’s wonderful, because they are all very personal to me.”
See John Piper’s Retrospective, A Life in Paint from 19th September to 7th October 2026 at Lighthouse Gallery, 53 Causewayhead, Penzance, TR18 2SS and at lighthouse-gallery.com.
