Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings

After Churchill was forced to resign from the WWI British government in 1915 at the age of 40, he took up oils and dived almost completely into painting. Sir Winston certainly didn't experiment much beyond shifting subject matters, but the""painting muse"" that supposedly carried him out of his retirement depression seems to have been an overwhelming, transcendent influence on his later years. Published with the full cooperation of Churchill's family, this impressive 9"" x 12"" book offers a large-scale retrospective of the grand statesman's paintings. Its 500 full-color and black and white reproductions and photos are displayed smoothly throughout the glossy pages and described by precisely detailed captions. Coombs, former editor of The Antique Collector and a lifetime fellow at the Royal Society of Arts, provides historical background and political context for the sometimes-vivid oil paintings. Culled from Churchill's first days of painting at his Sulley farmhouse (and holidays in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, the French Riviera and the United States), the paintings reflect a sincere interest in the meditative process of art-making, and are reminiscent of Monet, Cezanne and, when Churchill is at his best, perhaps Bonnard. Most are impressionistic landscapes or floral still lifes, along with the occasional portrait, such as one done in 1955 of Sir Winston's wife, Clementine Churchill, and others of various secretaries or political colleagues. The enthusiastic foreword is written by Churchill's only surviving child, Mary Soames. Two of Churchill's essays seek to explain the impetus behind the political giant's second life. As he put it:""We may content ourselves with a joy-ride in a paint-box.""