![]() Picture from Winston Churchill: Painting on The French Riviera. Most of his collection remains in Chartwell. ![]() He hated parting with his paintings, but enjoyed giving them away, carefully choosing which one to give to each recipient-it was best not to ask for one, but often one was given if the recipient showed an enthusiastic liking of what Churchill called them, “my little daubs”. At first, he exhibited under a pseudonym. I read that none were put up for sale by himself, but one was made available for a charity auction. ![]() Picture from Winston Churchill: Painting on The French RivieraĬhurchill began painting at the age of 40, an age he considered late in life, created over 500 works of art in his lifetime-it’s thought that at least 150 of them were of sites somewhere in the South of France. He began in 1915 using this sort of palette, but rarely did later on–preferring instead the paints be placed on a table top. In the words of Churchill’s daughter, Mary, about her father’s book, Painting as a Pastime (it) “is pure enchantment to read…throbbing as it does with enthusiasm and encouragement to others to seize brush and canvas and ‘have a go’, as Winston himself had done before, when, under the flail of misfortune, he had discovered in painting a companion with whom he was to walk for the greater part of the long years which remained to him.”Ĭhurchill’s studio kidney shaped palette. Picture from Winston Churchill: Painting on The French Riviera.Ĭhurchill found “Painting is a companion with whom one may hope to walk a great part of Life’s journey.” I recall reading about and seeing pictures of Renoir with paint brushes tied to his crippled hand late in his life-he painted everyday. Langworth “it has had the widest circulation of any of his postwar single volume works.” His paintings had been on display at the Academy’s 1948 summer exhibitions. In these two essays, he imparts his philosophy about the importance of having a hobby, and his discovery of painting as one of his worthwhile hobbies giving the reader a glimpse into the man, in his own words, a side of Winston Churchill not widely familiar. Victoire painted in 1948 during a trip to Aix-en-Provence.) (All of the paintings shown in this article appeared in that book except, La Montagne, St. In 1948, after he was elected Honorary Academician Extraordinary by the Royal Academy, he was persuaded by Odham Press to publish the two essays in book form, it became, Painting as a Pastime, including eighteen recent color plates, works to that date. He was offered, and he accepted, £1000 to write them. Picture from Winston Churchill: Painting on The French Riviera.Ĭhurchill wrote two essays that were published in, The Strand Magazine, in December, 1921 and January,1922. It’s thought by experts that he could have developed into a professional if he had had the time. Winston Churchill, wartime leader, statesman, and one of history’s lions, is not usually associated with the word painter, but he was that and a good one by all accounts. I know of nothing which, without exhausting the body, more entirely absorbs the mind.” “ Go out into the sunlight and be happy with what you see…Painting is complete as a distraction. ![]()
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