Churchill: The Statesman as Artist

2017 | Art, Photography & Fashion

When Winston Churchill suffered most severely from his 'black dog' he took to painting in order to express the inexpressible. Throughout his life he would withdraw to paint. His paintings throw fascinating light upon his character and its vicissitudes and thus are key to understanding his personality as a great statesman. As fellow artist Sir Oswald Birley said of him: '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'. This book, generously illustrated in full colour with examples of his painting, consists of a substantial introduction of great critical and historic importance by Professor David Cannadine but also Churchill's own writings about painting. Apart from his celebrated essay 'Painting as a Pastime' this also contains Churchill's art reviews (never reprinted) and the text of his address to the Royal Academy of Art when he was elected a Fellow. This has never been printed before. The book concludes with two more or less forgotten essays about Churchill's paintings - one by Augustus John and the other by Sir John Rothenstein.

David Cannadine (Author)