Most of his work from this period has been lost or is already in public collections, but this piece was recently rediscovered in storage. The work takes the form of four painted panels showing human figures with horses’ heads. Each figure is a satirical comment on what Piper saw as the corrupt domestic or international political system of the time. The first figure is a middle-class Tory voter from Bath ticking the ballot box; the second figure is a policeman employed to beat up striking miners; the third figure is an American army officer charged with installing nuclear weapons at Greenham Common; and the final figure is of Ronald Reagan, the US president in charge of the nuclear button. Each panel contains a handwritten satirical text describing the character. This key work from Piper’s early period has now been acquired by Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, an institution which has an active policy to increase the ratio of works by black, Asian and minority-ethnic British artists in its collections.

Provenance

The artist.