John Piper; British Artist, Set Designer, Poet

John Piper, 88, a versatile British artist and designer whose work included vivid depictions of bomb-damaged English country houses in World War II. Piper began as an abstract painter but turned to romantic realism when he became disillusioned by what he regarded as the limitations of abstraction. He was Britain’s official war artist from 1940 to 1942, turning his strong feeling for architecture to the task of showing the damage done by Nazi bombings. Some of his most lasting work is of bombed country houses. In 1941, Queen Mother Elizabeth commissioned Piper to paint a series of watercolors of Windsor Castle, which now hang in Clarence House, her London residence. Piper was a Companion of Honour, an award given by Queen Elizabeth II for national service. In addition to painting, Piper wrote criticism and poetry. He designed theater, ballet and opera sets, including scenery and costumes for operas composed by his friend Benjamin Britten. On Sunday at his home west of London.