Destination: Smithsonian

Taking a short "Smithsonian Journey" through the museum's amazing collection

  • By Helen Starkweather
  • Smithsonian.com, February 01, 2001, Subscribe
 

Capturing Churchill

If we stare long enough into Winston Churchill's face, the soft, jowly visage of the man who literally saved the Western world from Nazi tyranny, is it possible to see courage and intellect personified?

Since World War II, thousands of artists have thought so, struggling to capture this modern-day hero on film and canvas, in stone and mixed media. From the vaults of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum, we have assembled a gallery of eight intriguing portraits.

"...There is nothing here but what you see," Churchill once said in his famous iron curtain speech. We will leave it to you to determine whether you can see more than mere features, but rather the resolute embodiment of victory itself.

National Portrait Gallery

Smithsonian American Art Museum


Capturing Churchill

If we stare long enough into Winston Churchill's face, the soft, jowly visage of the man who literally saved the Western world from Nazi tyranny, is it possible to see courage and intellect personified?

Since World War II, thousands of artists have thought so, struggling to capture this modern-day hero on film and canvas, in stone and mixed media. From the vaults of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum, we have assembled a gallery of eight intriguing portraits.

"...There is nothing here but what you see," Churchill once said in his famous iron curtain speech. We will leave it to you to determine whether you can see more than mere features, but rather the resolute embodiment of victory itself.

National Portrait Gallery

Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Comments (1)

I WOULD LIKE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH SOMEONE REGARDING AN AFRICAN STATUE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SELL. I BOUGHT IT WHEN I VISITED KENYA OVER 20 YRS AGO AND WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT INFORMATION ABOUT THE STATUE AND THE WORTH AS WELL. CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHO I CAN WRITE TO ABOUT THIS AND EVEN SEND A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE STATUE TO GET MORE INFORMATION. I WOULD APPRECIATE HEARING FROM YOU REGARDING THIS MATTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SINCERELY, ROBIN BARON

Posted by ROBIN BARON on February 2,2008 | 12:58 PM




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