“PAINTING AS A PASTIME”.
Sir Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965)
Typed letter signed to Sir Charles Wheeler regarding the selection of paintings for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
London: 8 March 1961.
A revealing letter concerning Churchill’s lifelong devotion to painting and his participation in the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition. Writing to its President, the sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler, Churchill thanks him for visiting Chartwell to advise on which works might be submitted.
Churchill notes that one of the paintings Wheeler admired—thought to resemble a work by the French landscape painter Charles-François Daubigny—was in fact a copy Churchill himself had made after Daubigny, and therefore unsuitable for exhibition:
“I now find that the one you thought resembled a Daubigny was indeed a copy I made of a Daubigny, and I fear it would not thus be suitable for the Summer Exhibition.”
He proposes instead sending the other two works Wheeler selected and suggests asking his assistant to locate a third painting at Chartwell for submission.
Churchill began painting in 1915 and remained a committed amateur artist throughout his life. In 1948, he was elected an Honorary Academician Extraordinary of the Royal Academy, after which his works were regularly exhibited in the Academy’s Summer Exhibition. In 1961, the year of this letter, three of his paintings were shown, including views of the grounds and bridge at Chartwell.
Single sheet (241 × 191 mm), typed on the printed letterhead of Churchill’s Hyde Park Gate residence, signed in blue ink. Minor paperclip impression at the head and light handling creases; overall in excellent condition.
Provenance:
Paul C. Richards, Templeton, Massachusetts, 1984 (with original slip noting Item 109, priced $950).
Possibly from a group of letters from Churchill to Wheeler sold at Christie's, 28 March 1984, lot 32.
Collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes.
“PAINTING AS A PASTIME”.
Sir Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965)
Typed letter signed to Sir Charles Wheeler regarding the selection of paintings for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
London: 8 March 1961.
A revealing letter concerning Churchill’s lifelong devotion to painting and his participation in the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition. Writing to its President, the sculptor Sir Charles Wheeler, Churchill thanks him for visiting Chartwell to advise on which works might be submitted.
Churchill notes that one of the paintings Wheeler admired—thought to resemble a work by the French landscape painter Charles-François Daubigny—was in fact a copy Churchill himself had made after Daubigny, and therefore unsuitable for exhibition:
“I now find that the one you thought resembled a Daubigny was indeed a copy I made of a Daubigny, and I fear it would not thus be suitable for the Summer Exhibition.”
He proposes instead sending the other two works Wheeler selected and suggests asking his assistant to locate a third painting at Chartwell for submission.
Churchill began painting in 1915 and remained a committed amateur artist throughout his life. In 1948, he was elected an Honorary Academician Extraordinary of the Royal Academy, after which his works were regularly exhibited in the Academy’s Summer Exhibition. In 1961, the year of this letter, three of his paintings were shown, including views of the grounds and bridge at Chartwell.
Single sheet (241 × 191 mm), typed on the printed letterhead of Churchill’s Hyde Park Gate residence, signed in blue ink. Minor paperclip impression at the head and light handling creases; overall in excellent condition.
Provenance:
Paul C. Richards, Templeton, Massachusetts, 1984 (with original slip noting Item 109, priced $950).
Possibly from a group of letters from Churchill to Wheeler sold at Christie's, 28 March 1984, lot 32.
Collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes.
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