John Piper’s (1903-1992) great contribution to 20th-century British art, whether he was painting the bombed-out Coventry Cathedral or rugged Welsh hills, was his ability to evoke a sense of place.

Looking at prime Piper works such as St Mary-le-Port, Bristol, 1940, and Christ Church, Newgate Street, 1941, it’s easy to see how his merging of tasteful abstract elements and timeless British ...

Once again, images of objects of utility serve the needs of art. There is no such things as art for art's sake at the Whitworth. The galleries run until 16 June except Piper, which ends 7 April .

JOHN PIPER, MYFANWY PIPER: LIVES IN ART BY FRANCES SPALDING (Oxford Press £25) By VAL HENNESSY FOR MAILONLINE Updated: 11:58 EDT, 5 November 2009 . View comments.

Piper trained at the Richmond and Kingston Schools of Art, and later at the Royal College of Art. His first major painting trip to Wales was in 1936 when he visited Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire.

It was John Betjeman's bicycling "my Myfanwy" ("Soap-scented fingers I long to caress"), dreaming spires-educated Myfanwy Evans, for whom Piper, almost 30, fell. They married in 1937. She was ...