John Christopherson

Aerial view of a ruined city, 1960

Mixed Media. 59.5 x 44cm. Framed

John Christopherson was a painter of small dreamlike townscapes and abstract paintings that combine an almost naïve intensity with great sophistication.

Born in Blackheath, London in 1921, Christopherson began his working life at Shell-Mex House in 1938, the period when Jack Beddington, the manager of the publicity department was pioneering the use of modern art in advertising. After a wartime illness, Christopherson worked at County Hall in London, choosing for his office wall a print of Paul Nash's Wood on the Downs and Nash's primeval landscapes and magical moons were later to have a lasting influence on Christopherson's own paintings.