posted on 27 Feb 2022

Denis ‘Pip’ Piper : further reflections

 

(image by permission of Catherine Shakespeare Lane)

 

 

When I first became aware of the book jacket illustration work of artist, Denis Piper (1928 – 1987)  I was impressed enough to write a modest article for The Letterpress Project in 2018, lamenting just how little there seemed to be on the internet about his life and work. I had no idea at this point that I would be tapping into a much deeper story that has gradually unfurled, culminating in some extraordinary email exchanges last year that have thrown new light on Piper’s life and work.

The first ripple in the pond came back in 2020, documented here, when I was contacted by Michael O’Connell who is the son of John O’Connell, one of Piper’s friends from back in the day. After providing something of a pen-portrait of the man he knew, Michael signed off by saying:

 "He had no family that I know of.”

And that seemed to be that. I was just grateful to have been able to provide a more rounded picture of an outstanding book jacket illustrator and artist who had given me such pleasure. But if I thought the trail ended there, how wrong I was!

At the beginning of November 2021 and from out-of-the-blue I received an email from Nic Piper  – a son of Denis Piper – who comprehensively put to rest the idea that the artist had no family. In what has turned out to be an extensive exchange of emails, Nic informed me that he is the middle child of three sons (all still alive) and he has been kind enough to provide a more detailed account of his father – a man everyone knew as ‘Pip’. Nic has also taken the time and effort to gather together his memories of his father in a more lengthy piece that he’s agreed we can make available and which you can read in detail on Denis_John_Piper_known_as_Pip.pdf

What became clear from Nic’s emails is that Pip’s life was a fascinating one spent in part at the heart of bohemian London in the 1960s. In Nic’s own words:

“Life-long work associates/friends included Romek Marber, Germano Facetti, Enzo and (the) Peckham gang (of) Peter Dunbar, Bobby Hunt, Barry Pitt and I think Bernard Myers”

Nic also revealed that Pip was also a great lover of jazz music:

“He was a total Jazz record fiend with a very specific collection mainly "modern" American black jazz. I still have his later vinyl collection of 8,500 records.”

This led him to producing illustrations for record sleeves too – examples of which you’ll find in the image gallery below.

The story deepens further when in mid-November I had another email – this time from Pip’s youngest son, Ben, who had been made aware of one of my earlier article by a cousin and didn’t know at that stage of my email exchange with his brother Nic.

Ben was able to provide me with more colour to help build the picture of Pip still further. Ben confirms the links to the intellectual, artistic and musical milieu his father moved in:

“.. there are great links across to people like Johnny Minton, Lux, Freud, Bernard Myers, Ronnie Scott/Alexis Korner, Ron Geeson (Producer Pink Floyds ‘Atom Heart Mother’ who lived in our basement for years)

There was  John Latham/Fluxus -Yoko Ono and the ‘Happenings’ at the Indica bookshop ..etc.

My mother and  Pip held a kind of ‘salon’ in Notting hill in the late ‘50s early ‘60s where musicians like Joe Herriot and Shake Keane hung out with Humphrey Littleton, George Melly and my uncles John RT Davies and Julian T-Davies who played with most of the above plus Chris Barber and Ken Colyer (Although Pip definitely never played anything himself-let alone with Theolonious!).

Then there were thinkers like Alex Trochi Ronnie Laing and Erno Goldfinger. 

They were right at the heart of the post war London Avante Garde which were indeed interesting times…”

The oldest brother, Martin, has also been kind enough to give me some information from his perspective about Pip’s background:

“Denis Piper, a Capricorn, was born in 1927: his father Cornish, his mother very Welsh…Pip told me his PATERNAL ancestors came from Holland to build the canals (and) were gipsy, as in PEIPER….

….grandpa Piper was born too late to partake in the first war and too old in the second. Never a well man though physically strong, his main activity was architectural salvage. (He) was foreman (of).. the firm he worked for (and) had a fleet of 2 1 two-ton trucks with yellow cabs and red wheel arches which Pip  pointed out Grandpa used to work for…

…Pip spent a year as an entry student (at) Camberwell Art School 1942 (and) was in the air cadets by 1943 but a V2 (landed on) Burgess Park … only a handful (of) those nearest the shelter survived….PIP remembered very little of anything prior to (the) bomb landing (and) was in hospital for a year…nothing survived of his activities or most of his friends… Pip joined the army did national service till 1949 graduated with his diploma (in) 1951."

 

Pip died at the age of just 59 – which is a sad early loss – and Ben suggests that the lack of formal information about him on the internet could be the fact that he didn’t ever court fame:

“he really rather lived for the day rather than next week and had absolutely no interest in acquiring property or really leaving a legacy of any sort much.”

 

In many ways the story of Pip’s life and career is part of a much bigger canvas. As Nic himself notes:

“It's almost like the only way to disentangle his career is to look at what the people around him were doing. Their careers were intertwined.”

 

What has been set out here is not in any way meant to be a thorough or comprehensive portrait of Denis ‘Pip’ Piper or a definitive timeline of his life and work – that, hopefully will come along when someone picks up the baton and takes on the task of producing the biography his life and art deserves. What these memories from his family demonstrate is that no single story ever captures a life as it is seen by others – everyone puts a different interpretation on events from their own unique perspective. It is all those stories coming together that help capture the complexity of someone like Piper who clearly lived an extraordinary life.

And, it turns out, the fans of Pip’s work are legion. I have now had numerous conversations with other book collectors and dealers who are admirers of his book jacket illustration and the collectors market reflects the popularity – buying copies of the Orwell novels with covers designed and drawn by Piper now fetch quite remarkable amounts – usually in three figures for one in good condition. As if to underline this, in January of this year I received an email from Iain Walker – clearly a Piper enthusiast:

“Thank you very much indeed for your very informative article on Denis Piper. I too have loved his book jackets for some time - I started with the Orwell series as I'm a big fan of his and managed to collect 11 which I think is the whole series. I know you generally don't choose books for the covers but these are wonderful covers and the books are generally excellent so perhaps he was very choosy. I have another 8 books with his covers of which my favourite is 'Weekend in Dinlock' with at least another 5 to collect. Mostly I've found them in second hand bookshops with one or two a bit more expensive.”

Iain has been kind enough to share images of his collection and given permission for them to be reproduced in this article – you’ll find some of them in the image gallery below along with images provided courtesy of Nic Piper who has been very generous in sorting through for images of Pip’s work.

In a final coda to all of this, current practicing artist, Michael Hill contacted me to say that he too had seen my earlier articles and was inspired to begin his own research into the life and work of Piper. He’s made a superb start to this by producing his own image gallery which can be found here:

https://pl.pinterest.com/michaelwilliamhill1/denis-piper-artist-and-book-jacket-illustrator/

There’s no doubt that the internet has its dark and unpleasant side but this bit of bibliographic archaeology demonstrates just how constructive it can be when it reaches out and brings people together to tell the story of an artist like Pip Piper who has flown under the radar until this point.

My thanks to all three Pipers – Martin, Nic and Ben – for all their help in compiling this brief article and we all share the hope that the work of their father will eventually get the full recognition it deserves.

The picture of Pip Piper used at the head of this article comes courtesy of photographer, Catherine Shakespeare Lane who included him in her  ‘Jacket’  project – my thanks to her for permission to publish this rare 1976 image.

 

Terry Potter

February 2022