The Echo of Bombardment

This work is part of a series titled 'Destruction of the Human City' which respond to the urban devastation wrought by the air raids of the early 1940s. These landscapes are emotional and inspired by other artists of the period particularly the Neo-Romantics who sought inspiration from Samuel Palmer and William Blake. This is evident in the nocturnal, moonlit setting of the drawing. The strong texture, variety of media, lighting and simplified buildings are all characteristic of John Piper's work. The seemingly unpeopled landscape demonstrates the influence of Graham Sutherland. This scene of imagined urban devastation compliments the museums existing depictions of bomb damage and fits in well with works by Neo-Romantics like Piper, Sutherland and John Minton.