Sir Winston Churchill’s Painting as a Pastime
This article is not the place to explore what drew Churchill to painting in 1915 in that difficult period in the First World War when he left the Cabinet. Others in this issue tell that story. My goal is to tell how and where Churchill himself wrote about that hobby.
The first inkling of the possible publication of that story came in a letter from Winston to Clementine on 6 February 1921. Further to discussions he had obviously had previously with the Strand Magazine, he reported to her that the monthly would “accept my terms & will pay £1,000 for two articles with pictures reproduced in colour. As this will not be subject to Income Tax, it is really worth £1,600. So the painting has paid for itself, & a handsome profit over.”1
Clementine’s initial reaction was hesitant. Four days later, she asked Winston: “Would it not be possible to reproduce your pictures but for someone else to write the Article.” She was concerned that “the professionals would be vexed & say you do not yet know enough about Art” and that “[t]he danger there
