A PAINTING RETURNS IN JUNE
It’s no secret that Winston Churchill detested the portrait of himself infamously painted by artist Graham Sutherland in honor of Churchill’s 80th Birthday in 1954. Commissioned by Parliament, Sutherland’s painting was presented to Churchill in a lavish televised ceremony at London’s Westminster Hall on Nov. 30, 1954 — and never seen again. Years later, Clementine Churchill’s Private Secretary, Grace Hamblin, finally admitted publicly that she and her brother had burned it, frame and all, at Lady Churchill’s request; a burning re-enacted (not entirely accurately) in the television miniseries “The Crown.”
Sutherland painted a number of studies of Churchill as he labored toward his final unhappy portrait. One of these studies, long buried in a private collection, was auctioned at Sotheby’s this month. Surprisingly, and somewhat touchingly, it proves far more sympathetic; a closeup, bust-length portrait-in-profile, in which the artist’s prismatic use of color and light shimmeringly captures a contemplative, twilit sense of Churchill nearing the end of his life. Where the much larger, full-length final portrait is unforgiving in its depiction of an aging Churchill, the smaller study is far more embracing.
~NEW BOOK RECOMMENDATION OF THE MONTH~
MUSE OF FIRE
World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets
by Michael Korda
In honor of this great artwork’s re-emergence, we recommend the newly published, MUSE OF FIRE, by one of our favorite authors, Michael Korda, a richly-painted study of the poets of the Great War and their artistry.
For a limited time, signed copies are available.
~PRECIOUS PRIZE OF THE MONTH~
PAINTING AS A PASTIME
First English & First American Editions
Winston Churchill’s marvelous essay celebrating his favorite hobby first appeared in the Strand magazine over two issues in December 1921 and January 1922. It was then anthologized in Churchill’s 1932 book, THOUGHTS AND ADVENTURES, before being published on its own in 1948 in these cunning little volumes, which, as First Editions, are today increasingly rare in pristine condition.
~