"Portrait" of Winston Churchill before big politics. Churchill's paintings: a story of beauty Overcoming the complexity of existence

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill IV(1874-1965) - 12th Duke of Marlborough, Peer of England, Lord of the Admiralty, Prime Minister of Great Britain, military officer with the rank of colonel, engaged in journalism, wrote literary works. And at the age of forty, for the first time, picking up brushes and paints, he became an artist-painter, leaving behind a huge creative legacy.

While still a commander of a battalion of Scottish Rifles in 1915, Churchill painted four paintings from nature, almost on the front line. This unshakable calm made an incredible impression on his subordinate soldiers and officers. Churchill made sketches with a calm expression, not reacting to enemy shelling.

His passion for painting brought Winston out of a deep bout of depression and after his resignation from the post of First Lord of the Admiralty. He developed a pattern for himself that, completely devoting himself to painting, he completely forgets about everything - even the troubles of “big politics”. He once confessed to his cousin: "Sometimes I'm ready to give up almost everything to paint".

Winston's new hobby was much more than just a hobby. His trips to the open air were a whole procession: in front were gardeners with an easel, a canvas on a stretcher, a palette of brushes and paints, behind them was Churchill in a frock coat, a wide-brimmed hat and a cigar in his mouth. Having found a place from which the landscape he was interested in could be viewed from the desired angle, he gave the order to set up an easel and a sun umbrella. Then he dismissed the workers and began painting.

All the attributes of an artist-painter were always with him, in all his endless trips around different countries. In all the houses where the Churchill couple lived, art studios were set up. Winston drew everywhere and could always devote a couple of hours to his favorite hobby.

“I don’t know of any other activity that, without exhausting the body at all, absorbs the mind so completely. No matter what worries the day brings, no matter what threats the future conceals, as soon as the picture begins to emerge, all worries recede, there is no longer room for them in the head. They fade into the shadows and disappear into the darkness."

If Churchill was one hundred percent confident in himself in political affairs and literary work, then in painting he assessed his talent very modestly. Being open to criticism, he was suspicious of praise, since he understood that he was praised not only for his paintings.
He often said: “My paintings are too bad to sell and too expensive to give to anyone other than close friends.”

Nevertheless, in 1921, Churchill still sent several of his paintings to the International Exhibition in Paris, putting on them the signature of the artist he invented, Charles Morin. To his surprise, the jury approved six paintings and put them up for auction. And in 1925, Churchill the painter had even greater success: at an exhibition of artwork in a London gallery, his canvas was awarded first place among the works of non-professional artists. The authors were presented to the jury anonymously.

The professional jury praised Winston’s work quite highly, stating: “Whoever their author is, he is clearly not a Sunday artist”. And the politician wrote his creations only on weekends and in very short hours and minutes, free from government affairs.

During World War II, Churchill did not paint. And he returned to his favorite work after the war with even greater zeal.

Winston was Prime Minister of Britain for 2 electoral terms: from 1940-1945 and from 1951-1955. And when the Conservatives, led by Churchill, were defeated in the elections in 1945, painting again brought him out of his depressed state of mind. He, like 30 years ago, plunged headlong into a creative state.

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He once confessed to his friend: “It’s somehow awkward for me to exhibit my paintings publicly, because they are like children to me: even if they behave badly, they still remain loved.”
And yet the exhibition took place. In Kansas City (Missouri) in 1958, the first personal exhibition of thirty-five works by Winston Churchill was organized, which was a stunning success. Then the paintings went on a tour of US cities, where they were highly appreciated. More than half a million viewers saw the work of the retired British prime minister.

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And Field Marshal Alexander, analyzing Churchill’s painting, said: “He loves paint very much and takes too much of it, which is why his paintings are so harsh. He can't resist using the whole palette of colors. In painting, as in everything else, from big politics to food, Churchill was a maximalist." !}

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Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was not only an outstanding political figure, but also a journalist and writer who received Nobel Prize in literature in 1953, but also a gifted self-taught artist. He left behind a huge legacy in this area: more than five hundred works. He worked mainly in the open air, but in the studio he created portraits and immediately began to paint only in oils. Now we will look at some paintings whose painting is of not only historical, but also artistic interest.

Excerpts from the biography of a descendant of the Dukes of Marlborough (a branch of the Spencer family)

He was born before his time. The mother was at the ball at that moment and, not having time to get to the room, gave birth to a child in the hallway, littered with ladies' outerwear. He studied well in Brighton, at the Thompson Sisters' School, but received the lowest grades in terms of behavior.

Already a well-known politician and member of the Cabinet of Ministers, First Lord of the Admiralty W. Churchill in 1915, trying to hasten the end of the war, held unsuccessful operation in the Dardanelles. The Allied forces were defeated and suffered huge losses. After this, the statesman retired. He settled with his family on the Howe Farm estate. It was a time of deepest depression. A younger brother and his wife, who was fond of watercolors and spent hours in the park, came to visit the Churchill family. After watching his sister-in-law for some time, Sir Winston took up paint and brush at the age of 40.

Above in the photo is Churchill's painting "House and Garden at Howe Farm". There he spent hours enthusiastically painting landscapes and portraits, forgetting about troubles and bitter disappointment. This is how Churchill came out of his depression. Later, having returned to politics, he no longer abandoned painting, devoting a lot of time to it. She, accompanying him throughout the rest of his life, brought him peace of mind.

Attitude to painting

All friends and family admired the unexpectedly discovered talent. But the artist himself treated drawing simply as a hobby. In 1921, friends persuaded him to send Churchill’s paintings to an international exhibition in Paris at the prestigious Drouet gallery under the pseudonym Charles Morin. Among other works, his self-portrait was exhibited there.

The jury noted the emergence of a new, original artist. All these paintings were successfully sold out. In 1925, an exhibition of non-professional artists took place in London. Churchill's paintings were also presented under a false name. One of his paintings took first place! Later, in the summer of 1947, while involved in big politics, the amateur artist sent his works under the name David Winter to the Royal Academy of Arts in London and, to his great surprise, two canvases were accepted. One of them, “Winter Sun. Chartull,” is still in his home, the other, “River Loop. Maritime Alps” belongs to the Tate National Gallery in London. The artist himself, with his usual skepticism, did not take the praise seriously. Churchill easily gave paintings to friends, and now his works at auction are valued at millions of dollars. This is a reassessment of Churchill's true value as an artist.

Serious and intelligent painter

Although the politician never studied at professional institutions, his friend Sir John Lavery, a famous Irish artist, was at the origins of his work. He was also greatly influenced by the work of the Impressionists, whom he met in Paris, and also very important for him was his friendship with the major British artist of the 20th century, William Nicholson, about whom he said that this man taught him painting more than anyone else. Churchill's paintings show us a man who saw beauty in the entire world around him. They reveal him as an artist who set himself complex technical challenges. This is no longer a sign of an amateur, but of a professional. Let us illustrate this with one example: Churchill’s painting “Goldfish Pond.”

It is dominated by transparent swirls of water and a gentle swarm of goldfish. This splendor is framed by carved leaves of plants on the shore with their reflections in the water carefully painted. The artist successfully copes with the construction of composition and perspective, understands and conveys all the complexities of the shape of leaves, admires the secrets of light and shadow, and enjoys color. Mastering green shades is very difficult, and in this work they are presented masterfully. It is not surprising that all his professional friends unanimously admired his work.

Churchill's Art Diary

Wherever the politician had to go, and he traveled half the world, everywhere he took with him an easel, canvases, brushes and paints. Therefore, in Churchill’s paintings we can now see not only rural views of England, the houses and estates of his relatives and friends, but also the Italian Alps, Egyptian pyramids, views of Morocco, the French Riviera, Miami.

From the point of view of composition, the work “Hippodrome in Nice. View from under the railway bridge." Its arched semicircular ceiling gives the painting an Italian Renaissance atmosphere. The sky with the lightest clouds is reflected in the blue of clear water, the banks of which are strewn with small pebbles. In the distance, in the haze of a hot day, on the golden shore, the building of the hippodrome shines, which is located on the line of the golden section, and therefore fits very harmoniously into the landscape.

Love of life

All of Churchill's paintings show his love of life. Almost all of his works are dominated by light, warm colors. They carry the artist’s good perception of the world, which is transmitted to his viewer.

Sir Winston, like many Englishmen, was very fond of animals. Among his pets were the cat Nelson, the poodle first Rufus I, then Rufus II, and the budgerigar Toby. He treated the sheep affectionately, which he captured on the canvas “Chartuel. Landscape with sheep,” and to the pigs, about whom he said that they look at us as equals. At times he was attacked by an irresistible melancholy. It was caused not only by overloads, but also by the international situation.

Overcoming the complexity of existence

Even before that, in 1938, he painted the canvas “Beach in Valmer”. This scene was a response to the treacherous policy of handing over part of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis. Churchill's hands were tied. He was removed from active work in the government. Therefore, on the one hand, a peaceful, serene scene was written, where a family plays on a golden beach, but a huge cannon from the continent is pointed at Britain.

During the war with Hitler, Churchill's “black dog” appeared. Is this a painting? No, this metaphor stands for black depression, symbolizes melancholy, illness, darkness and the dog because of its close connection with man. The black dog went with him everywhere, sat on his lap. This was the heaviness and tension that accompanied the leadership of the country in the midst of war. Anticipating the Nazis' sinister goals, in June 1940 Churchill spoke in the House of Commons something like this: "If we fail, the whole world will plunge into the abyss of a dark age." Overcoming his pessimism, using his full potential and his strengths, Churchill dealt with the black dog.

After the war

Churchill was again removed from big politics. He came to the USA, where he painted landscapes and gave them to G. Truman and F. Roosevelt. In America, a very warm and cheerful landscape “The Valley of Orica and the Atlas Mountains” was painted. Later, his health began to fail, and Churchill retired, but continued to paint. He died at the age of 91 after another stroke at his London home in 1965.

In today's article we want to talk about five paintings that suffered a sad fate, and, unfortunately, they were destroyed for unknown reasons.

1. In 1954, British artist Graham Sutherland received an order to paint a portrait of Winston Churchill, which was later presented to the politician for his 80th birthday. But, alas, the birthday boy did not like the gift. The painting was taken by the Churchill family immediately after the celebration to their country house and from that moment no one saw this work again. There is an opinion that the portrait was destroyed by Winston's wife Clementine Churchill.

It should also be noted that almost no one liked Churchill’s portrait, although they praised him only out of politeness.

Graham Vivian Sutherland: Portrait of Winston Churchill

2. Fresco entitled “ Jeremiah II“, painted by an unknown artist in 1934, was then presented to the public in Westchester Institute of Fine Arts. The work featured an angry caricature of New Deal policies and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as drawings of suffering workers.

The most interesting thing is that this work caused the most outrage among the most ordinary painter, John Smuske, who works in a neighboring house near the museum where the fresco was exhibited. One weekend, the man, like everyone else, bought a ticket and, in front of the visitors, doused “Nightmare 1934” with stain remover. For this act he was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 6 months.

3. Unfortunately, in the forties, many works of art were destroyed due to hostilities. Such a fate did not pass even the canvas Gustav Klimt. The paintings that he painted specifically for an exhibition at the University of Vienna were considered pornographic by the customers, since Klimt’s ladies symbolized philosophy, law and medicine, which were considered too cutesy and incompatible with the then spirit of strict science. In 1945, the Nazis burned the castle containing Klimt's paintings so that they would not fall into the hands of their enemies.

Gustav Klimt. Jurisprudence 1899–1907. Destroyed in 1945

Gustav Klimt. Medicine 1899–1907. Destroyed in 1945

Gustav Klimt. Philosophy 1899–1907. Destroyed in 1945

4. “Man at the Crossroads” – this mural was created by a Mexican artist Diego Rivera, which was commissioned from him by the Rockefeller Center in New York. Initially, they didn’t want to invite Rivera, because he was famous for his “leftist” views, but they wanted to order him instead Henri Matisse or Pablo Picasso.

As a result, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin turned out to be one of the main characters of the work, and under his leadership the hands of the workers were united. The fresco also depicts a demonstration of workers on Red Square. However, in 1934, the fresco was destroyed by workers of the center. They explained this by saying that the artist did not want to replace Lenin with a more “famous person.” After this incident, the artist painted the wall Jose Maria Sert, who decided to choose Abraham Lincoln as the main character.

Diego Rivera. A man at a crossroads. Destroyed in 1934

Diego Rivera. A man at a crossroads. (fragment)

5. “Reaper” is a huge five-meter fresco painted in 1937 for the Spanish pavilion, which participated in the World Exhibition in Paris, by the artist Joan Miró. Nobody liked this work, because the peasant depicted was holding a sickle in his hands, which at that time was considered a communist symbol. After the exhibition ended, Joan Miró donated the fresco to the Spanish government, but the work disappeared during transportation. Experts believe that it was simply destroyed.

Joan Miro. "Reaper"

The scandalous story of the missing portrait of Winston Churchill by Sutherland

Recently, there has been renewed interest in British history in the world - this is due to the recent Anniversary celebrations of the British Royal House, the 2012 London Olympics and the release of several feature films and TV series dedicated to the current royal family and their entourage.

Before this, we knew something about Winston Churchill general outline and very superficially: a great politician, great man, celebrity, complex character, did not like communists and Soviet Union. And, of course, no one was particularly interested in his family and hobbies. Naturally, few people knew that the British Prime Minister had extraordinary literary talent and was a very good drawer. Moreover, he began to paint pictures after 40 and managed to create more than 500 of them!

For all his ambition and innate artistry, he decided to limit himself to a political career, reserving painting for himself as a hobby “not for the general public.” He had the tact and common sense not to impose on the general public the modest fruits of his innate artistic gift, although many of his works are very good. He submitted his works several times to various competitions and exhibitions, and always under an assumed name, and quite often the jury encouraged his paintings; at an exhibition of amateur artists in 1925, his work even took first place! Most of his works are landscapes, but he also painted portraits.

Churchill came from an ancient aristocratic family, which gave England more than one influential politician and statesman. Winston inherited his artistic flair and artistry from his mother - she was a sophisticated woman; a true socialite and trendsetter who surrounded herself with antiques and elegant trinkets. So Winston, of course, understood art and considered himself an expert in painting, especially since he painted himself.

In 1954, Churchill celebrated his 80th birthday. Despite his advanced age and a whole “bouquet” of illnesses, he was not going to leave his career, believing that this would be disastrous for England and the young queen, who ascended the throne just two years ago. Age was the Prime Minister's weak point. Despite his enormous popularity among the people, his political enemies repeatedly repeated that “Churchill is no longer the same, it’s high time for him to retire.” True, before the celebration of the anniversary, even his enemies fell silent: Churchill’s services to his homeland were undeniable, the celebration had to be held at the highest level.

The then popular English artist Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a portrait of the prime minister in full height. It was a gift from the House of Commons and the House of Lords, with a donation of 1,000 guineas (approximately $35,000) as an honorarium. Graham Vivian Sutherland was a versatile artist, he painted portraits to order, but he himself preferred abstract painting and surrealism. He became famous as a portrait painter, having made a very successful portrait of the writer Somerset Maugham in 1949 (surprisingly, this was the artist’s first work in this genre!). In portraying people, Sutherland portrayed amazingly accurately and even mercilessly characteristic features personality, his works were truer than nature itself.

The recent British series The Crown shows the work on the portrait as it happened according to the creators of the series, but these events are not entirely true. Many hours of posing, intimate conversations and almost friendship between the artist and the model most likely did not exist, although both of them, as shown in the series, were indeed united by the death of their daughters.

Sutherland made very quick charcoal sketches of the portrait while posing at Churchill's Chartwell estate in August 1954. Also, to work on the portrait, he used photographs of Churchill, but did not take them himself, as shown in the series, but took photographic portraits of the photographer Elsbeth Judah. He worked on the portrait itself in his studio. He tried to reflect in his appearance what Churchill said about himself: “I am a rock.” The pose of the person being portrayed repeated the pose of Abraham Lincoln in his famous sculpture in the chair.

What Churchill himself expected from the portrait is eloquently evidenced by his desire to be depicted as the Knight of the Garter. The attire of the knights is very luxurious, elaborate (and slightly ridiculous, it must be said), that is, the ambitious and rather sentimental Churchill wanted to see greatness and triumph. Those who ordered the portrait persuaded him to pose in the usual parliamentary attire - a black suit and tie.

Churchill did not see the portrait until the end of the work; only some sketches were shown to his wife, who found many similarities; she admitted that the portrait was “really disturbingly similar to him.”

The series also shows an episode of the presentation of a portrait, when Churchill on stage almost falls off the stage from indignation and surprise. This didn't happen either. The portrait was shown to the Prime Minister before the presentation, so there was no thunder and lightning among the general public. Sutherland portrayed Churchill so accurately and truthfully that he was simply shocked to look into the eyes of the truth. An elderly, decrepit and very tired man was looking at the viewer. His look is sad and disappointed; he is not at all the powerful and majestic politician that Churchill imagined himself to be.

The subject was furious. He called the painting "dirty" and "evil"; He is known to have said that the portrait depicts “an old man in a state of depression, thinking about a nuclear bomb.” It must be said that the opinions of eyewitnesses about the portrait were very contradictory: some believed that it was a masterpiece of visual accuracy and truthfulness, others (and these were the majority) had a low opinion of it. At first, Churchill even wanted to refuse to participate in the award ceremony, but then he was dissuaded from this so as not to offend the customers.

Sutherland was surprised by Churchill's reaction, he said: “I just showed what I saw!”

After delivery, the painting was taken to the Chartwell estate, where it was immediately removed out of sight into an attic or closet. After that, the portrait disappeared without a trace. It is believed that Churchill's wife Clementine destroyed it so that the sight of the painting would not torment her husband. It should be added that another advantage of the Prime Minister was that he adored his wife until the end of his life and was an excellent family man; he and Clementine had a strong marriage, in which five children were born.

Apparently, the hated portrait nevertheless made a strong impression on the Prime Minister, showing him what he had so long and stubbornly refused to see. Six months later, Churchill resigned due to age and health. True, the unbending Winston lived for another 10 years after that.

Now the portrait, known to us only from sketches and reproductions, is recognized by experts as a true masterpiece of modern art. So his contemporaries were quick to give him unflattering assessments - Sutherland was simply a little ahead of his time.