This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 Churchill as Artist
Half Passion, Half Philosophy
By Ron Cynewulf Robbins
Churchill was forty before he discovered the pleasures of painting. The
compositional challenge of depicting a landscape gave the heroic rebel
in him temporary repose. He possessed the heightened perception of the
genuine artist to whom no scene is commonplace. Over a period of
forty-eight years his creativity yielded more than 500 pictures. His
art quickly became half passion, half philosophy. He enjoyed
holding forth in speech and print on the aesthetic rewards for amateur
devotees. To him it was the greatest of hobbies. He had found his other
world—a respite from crowding events and pulsating politics.
His initiation was simplistic. As he put it: "...experiments with a
child’s paint-box led me the next morning to produce a complete outfit
in oils." Unfamiliarity with technique could not lessen his
determination; discipline—and lessons—would have to wait. Yet a sense
of awe seemed to impose restraint. The novitiate was caught by
the wife of Sir John Lavery (distinguished leader of the Glasgow school
of painting) tentatively handling a small brush." Painting!" she
exclaimed. "But what are you hesitating about? Let me have a brush—the
big one." She showed him that a brush was a weapon to subdue a blank,
intimidating canvas by firing paint at it to dazzling effect. Never
again did he feel the slightest inhibition.
Characteristically, Churchill’s first word of advice to budding artists
was "audacity." He was a strong proponent of oils. Without intending
any insult, he put "la peinture ‘a l’eau" in second place.
The erratic pendulum of politics afforded him the opportunity to verify
that the attraction of painting was no mere infatuation. He was
appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911 at the age of thirty-six
and insisted that the Royal Navy shake off the shackles of the 19th
century. Larger ships must abandon coal and run on oil; here was his
answer to the growing threat from Germany. The First World War saw his
political career in jeopardy with the 1915 failure of the Dardanelles
expedition for which he was blamed. Relegated to the minor position of
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he soon resigned to join the army
as a colonel. Awaiting embarkation for France, he had time to succumb
to the lure of brush and palette. By 1917, he was back in office with
the portfolio of Minister of Munitions. His masterly advocacy of the
tank to counter the menace of the German machine-gun broke the trench
warfare deadlock, and the tank proved historically invaluable during
the vital combat at Cambrai.
Encouragement to persevere with his hobby stemmed from an amateur prize (his first) which he won for Winter Sunshine, Chartwell,
a bright reflection of his Kentish home. He sent five paintings
to be exhibited in Paris in the 1920s. Four were sold for £30
each. Making money, it has been well established, was not the
incentive, then or ever. Sheer delight accounted for Churchill’s
devotion. For the Paris test of his ability he hid his identity
under an assumed name: Charles Morin.
Why the disguise? Imperceptive critics attribute it to nervous ego on
the part of a statesman to the fore in oratory, soldiery, and
literature. The decisive factor is that Churchill’s painting animated
him to the point of exaltation and threw open for us another door to
the treasure house of his genius. Eager flaw-finders would like us to
believe use of a pseudonym was unworthy. In fact, it proves that his
ego was not overblown to the extent of excluding a winning modesty,
which often surfaced in the course of his astonishing life. Writing for
the New York Times Magazine to mark
The centenary of Churchill’s birth, the British historian A. J. P.
Taylor described how, in old age, Churchill pronounced a verdict on his
career: "He remarked that the final verdict of history would take
account not only of the victories achieved under his direction, but
also of the political results which flowed from them and he added:
‘Judged by this standard, I am not sure that I shall be held to have
done very well.’ Churchill did himself an injustice. The results were
not his doing; the victories were. The results were foreshadowed
when the British people resolved on war with Hitler."
Modesty shone through that self-estimate. Modesty—and warm
sympathy—were undeniably evident in what Churchill told a fellow
painter, Sergeant Edmund Murray, his bodyguard from 1950 to 1965.
Murray had been in the Foreign Legion and the London Metropolitan
Police. Interviewing him to gauge his suitability, Churchill said: "You
have had a most interesting life. And I hear you even paint in oils."
After Murray had his work rejected by the Royal Academy, Churchill told
him: "You know, your paintings are so much better than mine, but yours
are judged on their merit."
Sergeant Murray was at Churchill’s elbow on many painting outings. He
carried the gear and took the photographs Churchill needed for
reference indoors. He would voice hints about just where he
thought an extra touch would bring improvement. Churchill,
absorbed and happy, usually kept on wielding his brush. Sometimes,
however, he asked for an opinion. Murray boasted that now and then his
advice was taken.
The wealth of organization displayed by an artist’s canvas is rightly
considered essential to the proper assessment of virtuosity. Equally
pertinent is the assertion that definitive artistic value lies wholly
in the workmanship. Churchill’s progressive workmanship demonstrates
that a pseudonym employed at a crucial stage shrewdly enabled him to
find out where he stood before moving on to fine-tool his talent.
Churchill again favoured a pseudonym (Mr. Winter) in 1947 when offering
works to the Royal Academy, so his fame in other spheres was not
exploited. Two pictures were accepted and eventually the title of
Honorary Academician Extraordinary was conferred on him. He
earned it. That is borne out by the conclusion of the renowned painter
Sir Oswald Birley: "If Churchill had given the time to art that he has
given to politics, he would have been by all odds the world’s greatest
painter." Connoisseurs of Sir Winston’s art stoutly defend their
individual preference, but there are convincing arguments for bestowing
highest praise on "The Blue Sitting Room, Trent Park" which was sold in
1949 to aid charity.
A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Churchill was  conscious
of the abiding unity of poetry, painting and sculpture—"sister arts."
His rise from gifted amateur to academician was no easy flight but,
with twinkling mischief which charmed even his enemies, he could be
dismissive of his painting skills.
Occasionally he invited a parliamentary journalist to lunch. This
provided him with a sounding board and served as a nostalgic reminder
of his journalistic days. In April 1946 William Barkley was his
choice. A penetrating thinker whose columns were the envy of his
Fleet Street colleagues, Barkley once wrote: "...for eyes, Churchill
has lakes of cerulean blue." He meticulously related their table talk.
Asked if he intended to hold an exhibition of his paintings, Churchill
derided the idea: "They are not worth it. They are only of
interest in having been painted [this with a guffaw] by a notorious
character! If Crippen had painted pictures no doubt the public would
flock to see them." He was disdainful of proposals that he retire: "A
great many people who want to retire me now were never very eager to
advance me." By 1951, of course, he was Prime Minister once more,
compensated for the crushing electoral defeat of the Conservatives in
1945.
Despite outward flippancy, Churchill had a true craftsman’s dedication
when he took up a paint brush. He consulted teachers admired for their
professionalism. He was fond of citing Ruskin’s Elements of Drawing
and readily accepted Sir William Orpen’s suggestion that he should
visit Avignon, where the light can verge on a miracle. He
recalled an encounter on the C6te d’Azur with artists who worshipped at
the throne of Cezanne and gratefully acknowledged the inspiration he
derived from their exchange. Marrakech, Morocco—irresistible and
productive—always brought out the best in him.
Churchill sought and found tranquillity in his art. His much
quoted words, summing up expectations of celestial bliss, retain their
lustre: "When I get to heaven I mean to spend a considerable portion of
my first million years in painting, and so get to the bottom of the
subject..."
Sources:
Twin enchantments: Churchill's Painting as a Pastime and final essay in Amid These Storms (published as Thoughts and Adventures in England, published in volume form, London and New York. 1948)
Churchill: His Life As a Painter. a study by his daughter Mary Soames, published in 1990.
David Coombs’s Churchill: His Paintings (1967) is an indispensable catalogue.
Sergeant Murray’s autobiography, I Was Churchill’s Bodyguard (1987) is robust and frank. |
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 Winston Churchill, a British politician and statesman, was known for
his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War when
he served as Prime Minister of England, 1940 -1945. He was also
an accomplished artist and took great pleasure in painting, especially
after his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915.
He found a haven in art to overcome the spells of depression, or as he
termed it, the "Black Dog", which he suffered throughout his
life. As William Rees-Mogg has stated, "In his own life, he had
to suffer the 'black dog' of depression. In his landscapes and
still lives there is no sign of depression".
Churchill was persuaded and taught to paint by his artist friend, Paul
Maze, whom he met during the First World War. Maze was a great
influence on Churchill’s painting and became a lifelong painting
companion.
Churchill is best known for his impressionist scenes of landscape, many
of which were painted while on holiday in the South of France, Egypt or
Morocco. He continued his hobby throughout his life and painted
hundreds of paintings, many of which are on show in the studio at
Chartwell as well as private collections. Some of his paintings
can today be seen in the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection at the Dallas
Museum of Art. Emery Reves and Winston Churchill indeed were
close friends, and Churchill would often visit Emery and his wife in
their villa in the South of France (villa La Pausa, originally built in
1927 for Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel). The villa was rebuilt within
the museum in 1985 with a gallery of paintings and memorabilia from Sir
Winston Churchill. Most of his paintings are oil-based and
feature landscapes, but he also did a number of interior scenes and
portraits.
Due to obvious time constraints, Churchill attempted only one painting
during the Second World War. He completed the painting from the
tower of the Villa Taylor in Marrakesh.[207]
Despite his lifelong fame and upper-class origins, Churchill always
struggled to keep his income at a level that would fund his extravagant
lifestyle. MPs before 1946 received only a nominal salary (and in
fact did not receive anything at all until the Parliament Act 1911) so
many had secondary professions from which to earn a living. From
his first book in 1898 until his second stint as Prime Minister,
Churchill's income was almost entirely made from writing books and
opinion pieces for newspapers and magazines. The most famous of
his newspaper articles are those that appeared in the Evening Standard from 1936 warning of the rise of Hitler and the danger of the policy of appeasement.
Churchill was also a prolific writer of books, writing a novel, two
biographies, three volumes of memoirs, and several histories in
addition to his many newspaper articles. He was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and
biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending
exalted human values". Two of his most famous works, published
after his first premiership brought his international fame to new
heights, were his six-volume memoir The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples;
a four-volume history covering the period from Caesar's invasions of
Britain (55 BC) to the beginning of the First World War (1914).
Source:
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill#Churchill_as_artist.2C_historian.2C_and_writer
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