Layout 8 - Winston Churchill

Left: WSC’s “Portrait of Sir John Lavery in his Studio, 1915” (Coombs 507) had actually been
exhibited before the “Morin” exhibition, in London in 1919. Below: Another painting likely to
have been exhibited in Paris in 1921 was “The Harbour at St. Jean Cap Ferrat,” painted
January 1921 (Coombs 309). Right: “Ightham Mote,” 1920 (Coombs 235) was the painting
WSC sold to Jean Hamilton for £50, a good investment considering its value ninety years later.
CHARLES MORIN...
“Charles Morin,” and the exclamation
point, suggest that he knew the truth
and was giving Sinclair a “nudge.”
To be strictly accurate, one of
Churchill’s paintings, “Portrait of Sir
John Lavery in his Studio” (Coombs
507) had been exhibited two years
earlier in 1919 at the annual exhibition
of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
in London. Still, the Paris exhibition
appears to be the first where several
pictures by Churchill were displayed.
The London exhibit was mentioned
in a 1953 essay on Churchill as
artist by the distinguished museum
director, art historian and critic,
Professor Thomas Bodkin (1887-
1961), who added: “The only other
recorded instance of [Churchill] submitting
his work for exhibition
occurred shortly before the late war,
when the French painter Charles
Montag organized a one-man show for
him in Paris at which six of his canvases,
described as being by Charles
Maurin [sic] were sold.” 4 It seems likely
from this that the “art critic” and “gentleman
in question” mentioned by
Geiger to Sinclair was Charles Montag.
As Lady Soames observed in her
book on her father’s painting hobby,
Professor Bodkin “does not mention
prices,” though it “must have given