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“A remarkable example of modern art” growled Churchill
when the grateful parliament presented him with a portrait
for his 80th birthday in 1954. A painter himself,
Churchill did not like the portrait by Graham Sutherland
for it depicted him as a querulous old man instead of the
bulldoggish statesman who had faced down Hitler.
Sutherland was commissioned by both Houses of Parliament
to paint a full-length portrait of Churchill in 1954,
for which only this study survives.
The finished painting, presented to Churchill, was
destroyed by his wife Clementine Churchill.
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Congress answers the affirmative action president for returning Churchill's Bust to Britain as his first and insultingly stupid act, to presage many to follow, as president.
Unfortunately, this ridiculous ceremony would have been as pleasing to Winston Churchill as was the presentation of his portrait for his 80th Birthday (which seems to have mysteriously ended up on a bonfire) after returning to serve as Prime Minister. m/r
There was no reference to another Churchill bust, recently removed from the White House.
Churchill's bust unites Washington in bombast and circumstance | World news | The Guardian
DC's elite gather to honour former PM, wax lyrical for 'one of history's great love stories' and sway to Roger Daltrey's crooning (how sad).
Paul Lewis in Washington
The Guardian, Wednesday 30 October 2013
In 1814, the British invaded Washington and set fire to the Capitol building. They returned to the same spot on Wednesday to honour a bust to Britain's wartime prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, with a ceremony capped with a performance from Roger Daltrey of The Who.
"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution," Daltrey sang to the approving VIPs. "Take a bow for the new revolution."
The unveiling of the bust said much about the once great bond between the United States and Britain, but less about what it has become.
Churchill's arrival in Statuary Hall is the culmination of two-year effort by the Republican speaker of the House, John Boeher, who passed a resolution to provide an "appropriate" honour to Churchill in the US Capitol.
Boehner called Churchill, who in 1963 was made an honorary US citizen, "the best friend the United States ever had" and the architect of "a beautiful and, of course, special relationship". He called the connection "one of history's great love stories".
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