John Piper (1903-1992) straddled the worlds of art and music and had a particularly strong connection with Benjamin Britten. Piper designed sets and costumes for most of Britten’s first productions, including Death in Venice in 1973.
The commission had particular resonance for Piper. Unwilling to fly, his travels were limited to Europe including Italy, and especially Venice with which he developed a strong affinity. Piper drew on 20 years of depicting the city to assemble a series of imaginary views through the maze of back streets, canals and bridges which so confused the hero-writer Gustav von Aschenbach when visiting a city partly abandoned in the grip of cholera.
Inspired by the set designs for the opera, and coinciding with its opening in 1973, Marlborough Fine Art issued a series of 10 high quality screenprints. 6 of them provide a series of portrait views through archways which, when placed sequentially, create an effective stage set extending to over 13 feet. Left and right hand side panels frame this panorama, providing effective book ends. Two further screenprints provide stand-alone set designs of drama and colour.
Unsurprisingly, most portfolios have been broken up and the screenprints sold off but, for the first time in a decade, we are able to offer the complete portfolio accompanied by its original box and provenance.
We have prepared a detailed prospectus for the sale of the Portfolio which is available here:
