EUGENE, Ore. -- (June 24, 2014) – The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon presents two bodies of work by British artist John Piper (1903-92), one of many prominent artists who used the silkscreen printing process made popular by the Pop Art movement. ”John Piper: Eye and Camera & Travel Notes” is on view in the MacKinnon Gallery of European Art through October 12.
In his early career, Piper experimented with abstraction before settling on representational art as his subject matter. Not only is he well known for producing some of Britain’s most loved paintings, prints, and photographs of the 20th century, Piper also designed fabrics, stained glass windows, and stage sets for theatrical productions, as well as written poetry and non-fiction, including illustrated texts of his travels throughout the English countryside. Two of the prints on view are from Piper’s “Travel Notes” series.
The works on display” are collaboration between Piper and master printmaker Chris Prater of Kelpra Studio in London. Prater revolutionized the medium of silkscreen printing from a commercial enterprise to an expression of modernity—legitimizing its role as a medium of fine art. The flatness and anonymity of the surface appealed to many British artists at the time whom were embracing the sensibilities of Pop Art. Although Piper often employed various forms of printmaking, he far preferred screenprinting, which involves running an inked squeegee over the stenciled area of a stretched fabric screen, transferring pigment onto the desired areas to form the image.
This method was especially useful to him when combining photographic and drawn material. He utilized this technique in the “Eye and Camera” series, for which is his wife, Myfanwy Evans Piper, posed. Often Piper combined multimedia to create a collage effect as well as multiple tonal layers that increased the interest in each of his images.
The works on view in “John Piper: Eye and Camera & Travel Notes” were donated to the museum in 1979 by Dr. Lewis Burrows.
About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public. The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America and elsewhere as well as changing special exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of six museums in Oregon accredited by the American Association of Museums.
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu/volunteer
