Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings

David Coombs has produced a remarkable biography of Winston Churchill and his paintings. He has thoroughly researched the works of Churchill, his life and times, and has combined them in this wonderful book. While Churchill was a pretty good painter with moments of greatness, the truly interesting aspect of this biography was how the author combined a timeline of what was happening in Churchill's personal and political career with his development as a painter. He went several years where he was unable to produce anything at all, being consumed with War War II and politics. Other years, he was quite prolific. Coombs has included the complete essays by Churchill on Painting as a Passtime and Hobbies. The full-color plates are very well-done as are the many photos of Churchill painting scattered throughout the book. If you're looking for a special book for your favorite hobbiest painter, for a Churchill lover, or just a history buff, this would be a good present or addition to your personal library.

Churchill began painting in WWI, not WWII. After the Dardanelles disaster, which caused him to be removed as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, Churchill took up painting as therapy on the advice of friends. He became quite accomplished at the craft. He painted only one painting during WWII due to lack of time.

This was a birthday gift for my WWII veteran husband. He has enjoyed both the text and art. Anyone who is interested in both the man and his art would find this book satisfying.

Most people think of Sir Winston Churchill as a Prime Minister, author and Parliamentarian. I never knew that he had considerable artistic skills and a portfolio of valuable work. His art portfolio includes the following titles: - the Hoe Farm - the Lawrence Farm - Portrait of Lady Gwendeline Churchill - Sketch of Captain Jack Scott - Sketch of Sir Archibald Sinclair - the Mimizem Landes Forest - the Sunset Over the Sea - Mountains and Sea at Sunset - A View of Jerusalem - A Distant View of Pyramids Near Cairo, Egypt Many of these creations are in full color. They are drawn to a considerable technical excellence. The coloring is splendid. Shadowing is realistic. The human figures are drawn to scale. The size and proportionality of the scene layouts synchronize with creations by a number of famous artists. Overall, Sir Winston Churchill was an outstanding artist for his time and perhaps for all time. This acquisition would be invaluable for a wide constituency of people in academe.

While Mr. Coombs was the first to catalogue WSC's paintings with "Churchill, his Paintings" in 1965, it seems only fitting that he should many years later release a thoroughly new and much improved companion - in full color!! His collaboration with Minnie Churchill, who oversees the painting reproduction rights by way of the Churchill Heritage, bring to light many paintings that didn't make the first book. The book took 6 years of in-depth research to track and re-photograph the many "daubs" that Mr. Churchill claimed privately to be his greatest love - next to Clemmie. What completes the book is the extensive painting catalogue that details the particulars of each work - including sale prices. One of the best books purchases I ever made.