The Artist Churchill

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29803, 21 April 1962, Page 3

The Artist Churchill

Crow’ded Canvas. By John Spencer Churchill. Odhams. 224 pp. Index.

An interesting autobiography is one of the most difficult of literary achievements, for the essence of autobiography is sincerity of purpose and unadorned veracity. Let the reader just try to write his own life! A bright narrative of personal experiences and events is far from enough, for the satisfying autobiography must always reveal the whys and wherefores of one's private life, and secrets must not be concealed if a writer is to hold his reader’s attention. The artist nephew of Sir Winston Churchill has recognised these canons, and in this book of memoirs he succeeds in gripping the reader from the first page to the last. At its conclusion one feels that in his fiftieth year and after his fourth marriage, the author has reached a turning point in his life. His motive in writing is possibly cathartic—by telling his story and by putting memories, grave and gay, of early struggles, mistakes and griefs in their proper perspective, the writer frees himself for “the uplands of greater achievement" we each of us in our own hearts hope for in the future.

John Spencer Churchill has indeed led an eventful and unusually glittering life. Brought up as a child surrounded by the witty, the elegant and the famous, he seems always to have been the mad-cap of the family. He and his cousin Randolph (whom "Johnny” still holds in the highest esteem) in boyhood competed in performing outrageous exploits In manhood his mishaps and escapades make hilarious reading, whether he is describing the hazards of life at Harrow, the pursuit of love in the persons of his four delightful (but how utterly different!) wives, or the desperate and daring gallantry of the B.E.F. at Dunkirk.

Throughout these lively pages sparkle striking vignettes of many famous personalities —Lloyd George, the remarkable sculptress Clare Sheridan, Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Cherwell, General Alexander, and a host of others. But the stories he relates of Sir Winston, sometimes irreverent but always affectionate, are of compelling

interest, and reveal a man we feel that we have long known and can always love and respect. Much of the inherent readability of these memoirs in fact derives from the family connexion, and the manner in which the famdus uncle keeps popping in and out of the narrative; and though “Johnny” has throughout his life honestly eschewed trading on the family connexion, he writes without false modesty and without inhibitions. In making his own reputation as an artist he had little encouragement from either his father (a stockbroker) or his uncle, though one of his proudest achievements is indeed a mural done for Sir Winston, decorating the walls of a pavilion at Chertwell. Throughout his life the author has found the family name something of a handicap, even in his chosen vocation “People are apt to think that the entire family is individually rich, or kept in luxury by their 'Fairy Godfather' Winston," he writes. He confesses that he has never been interested . in politics, or in stockbroking, or in the Army. During the war he was offered the post of general staff officer in Italy with the rank of lieu-tenant-colonel, but he preferred instead to use his talents even in the Army as an artist, and seems to have done satisfactory work in “military concealment” (camouflage) and air photographic interpretation. After demobilisation, with very little capital he began business in London as an interior decorator, and though this venture was not a financial success, it did lead to commissions for mural work and thus to portrait painting, artistic satisfaction, and "also an ever-widening circle of friends and patrons.” Of this he writes, “The occasion of the first sitting for a portrait is always an event, and I find the sizing up of both parties—me studying the sitter, and the sitter studying me—an intriguing challenge."

The author writes just as frankly of his marital experiences, and his four wives; and concludes his story on the last page with an unnecessary account of his “fairly strict routine" for drink. To the out-of-doors New Zealander this programme of alcoholic and other refreshment seems fantastic, but he says, “the result is that I feel half my age and very healthy”! This autobiography can be recommended for its freshness and frankness. Many illustrations add considerable interest also to the text.