He believed it focused on just one element of his personality, excluding his gentler, more humorous side (140). For example, Churchill disliked the way the World War II “bulldog” image stuck to him long after the War. And he will not surrender his personality to the artist…” (10 140).īlack also provides glimpses of what Churchill himself thought of his image. Sculptor Clare Sheridan, whose works are included in the book, declared that one sitting with Churchill “could provide material for a dozen portraits.” The sculptor Oscar Nemon called Churchill “one of the most difficult subjects I ever had….The Prime Minister has many moods, all clearly defined because he is a man of such powerful character. With Churchill, the artists’ challenge was to choose a particular aspect of his character to seize upon. Capturing a true likeness requires not just detached physical resemblance, but also a glimpse or spark of a person’s character. As an aspiring artist myself, I can attest to their challenge. Churchill was utterly unable to hold still, but even more formidable was the complexity of his personality. Most sculptors and painters who attempted Churchill’s image found the task the hardest of their careers. In spite of these aesthetic and organizational flaws, however, Black’s book offers an interesting perspective into Churchill’s multi-faceted personality. All in all, the book could have used a good editor to help unify these transitions and smooth out the smattering of grammatical errors, typos, and clunky phrases that plague the text. And while the book provides numerous photographs of the artwork in discussion – including twelve color plates – the illustrations occasionally interrupt the text mid-sentence. The transitions between the array of paintings, sculptures and political cartoons are abrupt and unorganized, often leaving one with a string of individual accounts, rather than a unified survey of the works. When one considers the amount of writing devoted to Sir Winston, it seems amazing that any aspect escaped chronicling.īlack claims to be the first “to take a close and searching look at how Churchill has been presented.” He was a titan “of many moods and many faces: stern, commanding, obstinate, sulky, petulant, confident, amused, beguiling and eminently appealing” (1 10).īlack’s thesis is intriguing, but his book, while chronicling some interesting art anecdotes, lacks overall cohesion and unity. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017, 284 pages, $29.95 (Amazon $19.46, Kindle $14.74).īlack begins by asking why there should be yet another publication on Churchill (1). Jonathan Black, Winston Churchill in British Art, 1900 to the Present Day: The Titan With Many Faces.
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