Layout 8 - Winston Churchill

CHARLES MORIN...
cooking. Their terminology is precise
and complete. They are therefore
admirably equipped to be teachers in
the theory of any of these arts. Their
critical faculty is so powerfully developed
that it is perhaps some restraint
upon achievement. But it is a wonderful
corrective to others as well as to
themselves. My French friend, for
instance, after looking at some of my
daubs, took me round the galleries of
Paris, pausing here and there.
Wherever he paused, I found myself
before a picture which I particularly
admired. He then explained that it was
quite easy to tell, from the kinds of
things I had been trying to do, what
were the things I liked. Never having
taken any interest in pictures till I tried
to paint, I had no preconceived opinions.
I just felt, for reasons I could not
fathom, that I liked some much more
than others. I was astonished that
anyone else should, on the most
cursory observation of my work, be
able so surely to divine a taste which I
had never consciously formed. My
friend said that it is not a bad thing to
know nothing at all about pictures, but
to have a matured mind trained in
FINEST HOUR 148 / 34
Above left: “Winter Sunshine, Chartwell,” circa 1924
(Coombs 142), which captivated the author as a
boy (see note 4). Above: Churchill at his easel. The
painting shown is unknown to Mr. Coombs: “It
resembles some of his pictures painted on the
coast near Marseilles in 1948 (Coombs 407, 248),
and may be one of those he painted over later, in
favour of another scene.” Below: Churchill at his
best, in the editor’s opinion: “Tower of the Katoubia
Mosque,” (1943 Coombs 381), presented to
Roosevelt (see opposite). This appeared on the
covers of Finest Hour 124, and a limited oil reproduction
was later sold by The Churchill Centre.
other things and a new strong interest
for painting. The elements are there
from which a true taste in art can be
formed with time and guidance... 8
Over the years I have ineffectually
tried to find a trail that
might lead to the discovery of
the “Charles Morin” paintings sold in
Paris. Lady Soames’s mention of the
Galerie Druet set my mind racing.
Surely such a famous gallery would
have archives referring to Churchill’s
exhibition, under his own name or that
of Charles Morin
Not quite. I learned that the
archives of the Galerie Druet were held
at the Bibliotheque Wildenstein
Institute in Paris. Through the kindness
of the archivist, Mme. Amélie
Naux, I was able to study a detailed list
compiled by M. Bernard Crochet of
the exhibitions held at the Galerie
Druet in 1921. There were many wellknown
names including some peintres
anglais modernes such as Harold