About this lot

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§ John Piper, OM, CH (British, 1903-1992) An illustration for Sir William Walton's Facade signed and dated 'John Piper '74' (lower right) watercolour 19 x 15cm (7.5 x 6in); An autographed letter to the reverse, dated '19 vii 76' reads, 'So sorry I can't decipher your signature with any certainty! I enclose a sketch related to illustrations I did for a special edition of Sir William Walton's FACADE, published in London a couple of years ago. I am so glad the works of mine you have give pleasure, kind regards John Piper'
Facade, a sequence of poems written by Edith Sitwell and set to music by Sir William Walton is one of the most important of the early British contributions to the new world of literary experiments by James Joyce and T.S. Eliot and the musical experiments of Stravinsky. Walton wrote the first version of the score aged only 20 when lodging with the Sitwells. The first recording was in 1922 and was performed in front of an audience of around twenty people. John Piper was commissioned to design the sets for another performance of Facade in 1942. A published edition of the poems was published in 1972, 'Facade; an Entertainment the poems by Edith Sitwell; the Music by William Walton', Oxfordshire University Press, London. It was limited to 1000 copies and included a 45rpm record of the 1929 recording. The present picture is a fascinating link, direct from the artist back through the twentieth-century to the birth of one of the most original and startling collaborative works of art ever created in Britain.

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