Karen F Rose My Painting Journey

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Winston Churchill the painter

Winston Churchill (detail of painting)
by Douglas Chandor
at Smithsonian
photo credit © Karen F. Rose 
The Portrait Society of America organized a bus trip to the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington DC during the national conference in 2010 which I was lucky to attend. 
I was pleased to study a portrait of Winston Churchill I had never seen. (This is just a portion of the painting by Douglas Chandor)

Mr. Churchill was a painter himself. In the book Winston Churchill His Life as a Painter A Memoir by His Daughter Mary Soames, there is a touching story describing how Churchill during the war convinced President Roosevel that while in North Africa he must see the sun set over Marrakesh.
Roosevelt was carried up the stairs of a tower and "the two friends sat and watched the sun set in all its glory." Then in the next two days Winston Churchill, who had brought his paints with him painted, the scene. 


1 comment:

Janelle Goodwin said...

Thanks for the link to the PBS clip, Karen. It was indeed a touching story. I knew that Winston Churchill was a painter and I've always been curious. I would love to get a copy of his daughter's book!