John Piper Chiesa Della Salute Venice, 1959, 4 curtains each 140w, 280h, A Century of Sanderson, Italian inspired design, English made
11905
JOHN PIPER CH (BRITISH,1903-1992) :CHIESA DELLA SALUTE, VENICE, extremely rare set of 4 large curtains, each curtain approx 140cm wide and 280cm long
Screenprinted fabric, on a high quality satinised cotton, Sanderlin. Designed in 1959, and printed by Sandersons, London, 1960 In 1959 the textile and wallpaper manufacturer Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd. commissioned five textiles, which this is part of, from John Piper as part of their 1960 centenary celebrations A Century of Sanderson 1860-1960.
It is exceptionally rare to find a set of four fine artist designed curtains from this period. Large pieces of this design rarely come onto the open market and I have not come across such quantity. They come with an excellent provenance. Just purchased more information to follow
Condition - these curtains have been hung for many years and the inside edge of each curtain is worn with some discolouration from exposure to light
Provenance John Kenworthy-Browne FSA. A free-lance art historian, specialising in architecture and sculpture, chiefly of the neo-classical period. He was Regional Representative for the National Trust, and lived at Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire, a house which he set up and opened to the public in 1961. Later he was cataloguer in the Furniture Department at Christie's where he first became acquainted with English sculpture. He wrote the sculpture entries for the Council of Europe exhibition, The Age of Neo-Classicism (1972), and numerous articles for Country Life, Apollo, Burlington Magazine, The British Art Journal, Sculpture Journal and other specialist publications; he also contributed to the Dictionary of Art and the Oxford DNB.
This design is derived from a study Piper made of the S. Maria della Salute church on an excursion to Venice in 1954 for the performance of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw for which Piper designed the sets and his wife Myfanwy was the librettist. Returning in 1959 to prepare for an exhibition of his work in London at the Arthur Jeffress Gallery, this study of the S Maria della Salute church was revisited. Piper regularly made paintings of the city, and drew illustrations for an edition of Adrian Stokes' book Venice.
Sanderson employed in-house designers, but also chose accomplished free-lance artists to produce designs. The colours are wonderful and were printed on a high quality satinised cotton, Sanderlin. The abstract design is in soft shades of ochre, cream, ivory, green blue, sage green, plaster pink and shades of grey. In exceptional condition.
LITERATURE Simon Martin John Piper. The Fabric of Modernism p 30 Jackson, Lesley 20th century Pattern Design. p 154 Rayner, Geoffrey; Chamberlain, Richard & Stapleton, Annamarie Artists' Textiles in Britain 1945-70 p 84 RELATED Related example in the V&A Museum
Santa Maria della Salute (English: Saint Mary of Health) Commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.
It stands on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, at the Bacino di San Marco, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called plague churches. In 1630, Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health (or of Deliverance, Italian: Salute). The church was designed in the then fashionable baroque style by Baldassare Longhena, who studied under the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death. The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and the Venetian artist Francesco Guardi.
In the late 1950's to the early 60's there was interest in painterly textiles that demonstrated the unique potential of screen printing, with its ability to capture the quality of brush-stroked colour "The monumental grandeur of many artists' textiles in the early 1960's was necessary if they were to work in the large scale architectural interiors of the era which witnessed a rapid growth in new public buildings, all which required furnishing with suitably prestigious fabrics".
 :CHIESA DELLA SALUTE, VENICE, extremely rare set of 4 large curtains, each curtain approx 140cm wide and 280cm longScreenprinted fabric, on a high quality satinised cotton, Sanderlin. Designed in 1959, and printed by Sandersons, London, 1960 In 1959 the textile and wallpaper manufacturer Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd. commissioned five textiles, which this is part of, from John Piper as part of their 1960 centenary celebrations A Century of Sanderson 1860-1960.It is exceptionally rare to find a set of four fine artist designed curtains from this period. Large pieces of this design rarely come onto the open market and I have not come across such quantity. They come with an excellent provenance. Just purchased more information to followCondition - these curtains have been hung for many years and the inside edge of each curtain is worn with some discolouration from exposure to lightProvenance John Kenworthy-Browne FSA. A free-lance art historian, specialising in architecture and sculpture, chiefly of the neo-classical period. He was Regional Representative for the National Trust, and lived at Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire, a house which he set up and opened to the public in 1961. Later he was cataloguer in the Furniture Department at Christie's where he first became acquainted with English sculpture. He wrote the sculpture entries for the Council of Europe exhibition, The Age of Neo-Classicism (1972), and numerous articles for Country Life, Apollo, Burlington Magazine, The British Art Journal, Sculpture Journal and other specialist publications; he also contributed to the Dictionary of Art and the Oxford DNB. This design is derived from a study Piper made of the S. Maria della Salute church on an excursion to Venice in 1954 for the performance of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw for which Piper designed the sets and his wife Myfanwy was the librettist. Returning in 1959 to prepare for an exhibition of his work in London at the Arthur Jeffress Gallery, this study of the S Maria della Salute church was revisited. Piper regularly made paintings of the city, and drew illustrations for an edition of Adrian Stokes' book Venice.Sanderson employed in-house designers, but also chose accomplished free-lance artists to produce designs. The colours are wonderful and were printed on a high quality satinised cotton, Sanderlin. The abstract design is in soft shades of ochre, cream, ivory, green blue, sage green, plaster pink and shades of grey. In exceptional condition.LITERATURE Simon Martin John Piper. The Fabric of Modernism p 30 Jackson, Lesley 20th century Pattern Design. p 154 Rayner, Geoffrey; Chamberlain, Richard & Stapleton, Annamarie Artists' Textiles in Britain 1945-70 p 84 RELATED Related example in the V&A MuseumSanta Maria della Salute (English: Saint Mary of Health) Commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.It stands on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, at the Bacino di San Marco, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called plague churches. In 1630, Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health (or of Deliverance, Italian: Salute). The church was designed in the then fashionable baroque style by Baldassare Longhena, who studied under the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death. The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and the Venetian artist Francesco Guardi.In the late 1950's to the early 60's there was interest in painterly textiles that demonstrated the unique potential of screen printing, with its ability to capture the quality of brush-stroked colour "The monumental grandeur of many artists' textiles in the early 1960's was necessary if they were to work in the large scale architectural interiors of the era which witnessed a rapid growth in new public buildings, all which required furnishing with suitably prestigious fabrics".){kind=link}