With an Art Fund Grant John Piper Artworks Bought for Towner Museum

Written by Jason Wakefield Friday, 25 November 2011 22:40

LONDON.- Two key pieces by 20th-century British artist John Piper have been bought for Eastbourne's contemporary art museum, Towner, with help from the Art Fund. Newhaven, The Castle (1934) and Newhaven (1937), which featured in Towner's hit exhibition John Piper in Kent & Sussex earlier this year, were purchased following an Art Fund grant and a public appeal. The Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as well as lobbying on behalf of museums and galleries and their users.

The works
Newhaven, The Castle (1934) and Newhaven (1937) show Piper depicting the same subject, three years apart. Despite their shared subject the two paintings have a very different feel, a sign of Piper's fast-paced development during a period in which he was at the cutting edge of British art. The Newhaven paintings were created at a time when Piper was working closely with Eric Ravilious, an English painter whose works feature prominently in Towner's permanent collection.

Councillor Neil Stanley said, 'We were absolutely delighted by the positive response to our appeal, with the vast majority of visitors taking the opportunity to give a small donation, and it is their generosity that made these acquisitions possible. Towner is also immensely grateful to the Art Fund, the V&A and the Friends of the Towner for their vital contribution towards the purchase of these two significant pieces of British art, which really will make an important addition to our collection here in Eastbourne.'


John Piper
John Piper (1903–1992) was an English artist known predominantly for his paintings of the British landscape. After an early flirtation with abstraction he adopted a distinctive, naturalistic style, and in the '30s he developed a close relationship with painter Eric Ravilious. Piper was appointed an official war artist in World War II from 1940 to 1942, attracting widespread praise for his paintings of bomb damage following air raids.

The Art Fund
In addition to using its own funds to help museums and galleries acquire art, the Art Fund organises national fundraising campaigns to secure significant works of art that are in danger of being lost from public view.

In 2009 the Art Fund led a fundraising campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard, a collection of over 3,500 gold and silver artefacts discovered in Staffordshire. Over £900,000 was raised through public donations, and the campaign received substantial funds from trusts and foundations. As a result of the campaign, the £3.3 million treasure was acquired for Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.

In 2010 The Procession to Calvary by Pieter Breughel the Younger, which had been hung in Wakefield's Nostell Priory for over 200 years, came under risk of being sold on the open market. The Art Fund worked with the National Trust to raise the £2.7 million required to purchase the painting for the National Trust's art collection.

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