In the company of his son Randolph, his brother Jack and his nephew Johnny, he toured Canada and the United States. By Hannah Furness 10 July 2015 10:47am The portrait of Sir Winston Churchill by Graham Sutherland As 80th birthday presents go, it was one of the more awkward in political history: a. Winston Churchill faced an awkward moment in 1954, when Parliament unveiled a portrait on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Winston Churchill took a three-month vacation to North America in the summer and fall of 1929, a little known event in his long career. During her research, Purnell discovered a tape housed in the Churchill Archives in which Grace Hamblin, Clementine’s private secretary, describes burning the portrait to fulfill the wishes of Lady Churchill.
In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph the actual fate of the Sutherland portrait is revealed by Sonia Purnell, author of First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill. Sutherland called the destruction “without question an act of vandalism.” It certainly combines force and candor,” but privately remarked that he thought it made him look “half-witted.” The portrait was never seen again after the presentation and in January 1978, after the death of her mother the month before, Churchill’s daughter Lady Soames revealed that Clementine Churchill had destroyed the painting on her own initiative prior to Winston’s death in 1965. On Churchill’s 80th birthday, in 1954, renowned artist Graham Sutherland painted a full-length portrait of the Prime Minister that Churchill famously hated and never put on display. At the time, Churchill said, “The portrait is a great example of modern art. When the war ended in 1945, little did I realise that ten years later I was to meet Sir Winston Churchill. Graham Sutherlands portrait of Winston Churchill, commissioned by both Houses of Parliament as a tribute to Churchill on the occasion of his 80th. The Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, has been celebrating his 80th birthday in a day of ceremonies and tributes to his remarkable career. While praised by some art critics, it was disliked by the public and despised by Churchill and his family. (The portrait is unveiled at 2:37 on the above video). The completed painting was presented to Churchill by Clement Attlee, on behalf of both Houses of Parliament, in a ceremony held on Churchill’s 80 th birthday on Novemat Westminster Hall. Commencing in late August, Churchill sat eight times for Sutherland to paint his portrait. In 1954 the members of Parliament commissioned a portrait of Winston Churchill by Graham Sutherland to present to the then prime minister on the occasion of his 80 th birthday which would take place that year.
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