Heather James Fine Art is currently showcasing 10 paintings by Winston Churchill, which have never been exhibited publicly before. The artworks come from the largest private collection of Churchill’s paintings outside of the United Kingdom and were owned by a single family. Although Churchill is widely known as a Nobel Prize-winning writer and one of the world’s greatest statesmen, his paintings are still relatively unknown. However, they played a significant role in his life, offering another way to understand this towering figure.
“Heather James is thrilled to present this superb selection of paintings by Winston Churchill,” says Heather James Fine Art Co-Founder Jim Carona. “Not only was Churchill one of the greatest statesmen of the modern era, but his personal foray into painting showcased his inner workings with resulting artworks that are technically adept and aesthetically beautiful. These works read like pages out of his diary, mementos of the moments and places that were meaningful to one of the most important men of his day. We at Heather James have had the honor of working closely with Churchill’s family and his oeuvre in the past and consider his works a specialty of ours. It is a joy to be able to share these phenomenal examples.”
Winston Churchill: Making Art, Making History, an exhibition celebrating Churchill and his paintings at Heather James, asks us to contemplate the role of painting in his kaleidoscopic life.
Heather James is offering ten paintings that consist of bold landscapes, a vibrant still life, and a quiet interior portrait. Churchill was most likely influenced by the Impressionist movement which made landscapes his genre of choice. Churchill, like the Impressionists, painted en plein air and often took his paints and canvas outdoors to paint nature. A landscape painting by Churchill is like reading a page of his diary. It is difficult to fathom the quality and productivity of Churchill’s artistic output, given the many demands on his time and his accomplishments both as a politician and as a writer.
