SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL (1874-1965)
Provenance
The Studio, ChartwellCelia Sandys
Private Collection, December 2007
Exhibition
London, M. Knoedler & Co. Ltd., Painting as a Pastime, May - June 1977, no. 46London, Sotheby’s, Painting as a Pastime, Winston Churchill – His Life as a Painter, January 1988, no. 99
Literature
D. Coombs and M. Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings, Lyme Regis, 2011, p. 217, no. C 490, fig. 455P. Rafferty, Winston Churchill: Painting on the French Riviera, London, 2020, p. 80 (illustrated)
The painting manipulates perspective and depth, a nod to the dramatic shifts of artists including Monet and Cézanne, who challenged traditional vantage points of landscapes. The portrait (i.e. vertical) orientation of the canvas combined with the trees, and the rhyming coastline channels the viewer’s gaze. The perceived tilting of the water's plane imbues the painting with dynamic tension.