Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from the Wallace Collection outlining Churchill’s artistic career. Sir David Cannadine from Princeton and x-chair of the National Gallery and Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, discussed the topic. Cannadine is the author of “Churchill : Statesman as Artist” after being invited to give the Linbury Lecture on him at Dulwich. They covered how Churchill used his art as a statesman, his artistic mentors and how he used it for his mental health. They discussed how his artistic career took off after the Second World War when his work toured America and he had a popular show at the Royal Academy where he was elected an Honorary Academician Extraordinary, the only man to be given that title. They included some wonderful quotes such as ““Happy are the painters for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end of the day.”

An unbalanced online lecture from the Wallace Collection on two artists who mentored Winston Churchill’s painting. This lecture complimented the exhibition at the museum of Churchill’s art and Frances Fowle from the University of Edinburgh led us though the subject. I say unbalanced as it was a good lecture on Lavery with a bit on Sickert tacked on at the end. I didn’t know a lot about Lavery so it was useful, and it did explain how he was one of the Glasgow Boys yet is considered an Irish artist which has confused me. It might have worked better as two lectures

Lively online discussion from the Wallace Collection exploring how Churchill engaged with modern art. Barry Phipps from the University of Cambridge was in conversation with co-curator of the Wallace Collection on Churchill, Lucy Davis. I got the impression that Davis had expected to just be the chair but Phipps was also asking her questions about how she picked works for the show and how she organised them. The discussion felt a bit random but covered the contemporary artists that Churchill worked with, his writings and speeches on modern art and his relationship in later life with the Royal Academy. They also talked about how his art became more well-known after the Second World War and toured America.

Interesting online lecture from the Wallace Collection looking at the artist William Nicholson and his influence on the art of Winston Churchill. Simon Martin,   director of Pallant House Gallery, which recently had an exhibition on Nicholson, led us through his life and art. I had seen the show and loved I so it was interesting to be reminded of it. Talked us through his early print work, his portraits and landscapes and his wonderful still-lives. Given the lecture was put on to mark the Wallace Collection’s Churchill show I would have liked to know a bit more about the connection. They met in 1933 when Nicholson was commissioned to paint a portrait of Churchill and his wife and in subsequent years Nicholson is known to have visited Chartwell, Churchill’s home on at least 10 occasions and they were known to paint side by side. Churchill referred to Nicholson as his Cher Maître or Dear Master.

Colourful exhibition at the Wallace Collection examining the paintings of Winston Churchill. The show was arranged chronologically starting with some crude early works done in the First World War. Throughout there was an emphasis on how he painted to help his mental health. I know his work fairly well from Chartwell but it was interesting to see the work up close and to realise how thick the paint was. Often the work felt a little basic up close but worked well from a distance. I was fascinated to see he’d given the works to and the show also became an insight into friendship and political ties. Closes 29 November 2026 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph

Interesting exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at how Churchill was represented in cartoons throughout his political career. This show acted as both a biography of Churchill and a history of cartoons in the 20th century. Each was clearly described with details of the cartoonist, a description of it and an outline of the context. It was mainly British cartoons but they did also look at how other countries portrayed him. The Second World War was of course the centre of the show with a range of work from the highly artistic pieces by E.F.Shepherd of Winnie the Pooh fame to an early piece by Giles for the Daily Mail. His earlier and later career were also well covered and I liked a work by Neville Colvin to mark Churchhill’s 83rd birthday and one from the First World War by Bernard Partridge of him helping Neptune by blowing ships in the Channel. Closed 23 February 2025 Reviews Times Telegraph  

Interesting exhibition at Chartwell looking at the life of Churchill’s wife Clementine. In a series of display cases and with excellent information boards the exhibition ran from her childhood, her marriage to Churchill, her family life and the role she took up in the Second World War. Objects included Churchill’s Nobel Prize which Clementine collected on his behalf, jewellery, childhood photo albums and objects form the house. Closes on 28 October 2018

Fascinating exhibition at the Science Museum looking at Winston Churchill’s interest in and use of science during the Second World War and in his post war government and the legacy that left. I’d popped to see this exhibition as I was passing and, as I’m sure you can tell, I never let a show go unvisited! I thought it would be an overview of Second World War military discoveries and a bit boring however it was fascinating. The sheer breath of war time scientific projects was amazing from the obvious things like radar and the atom bomb to nutritional research and the use of penicillin. Churchill was the first Prime Minister to have a scientific adviser, Frederick Lindemann, to help him understand and investigate new ideas.   He also had a policy of getting scientists from different arenas together through the universities and London clubs to generate new ideas and stimulate debate. I found the post war section really interesting about how the war had built scienti...