Winston Churchill

温斯顿·丘吉尔

Winston Churchill began his love affair with painting in his 40's, a mid disastrous¹ circumstance. As First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, he was deeply involved in a campaign in the Dardanelles that could have shortened the course of a bloody² world war. But when the mission failed, with great loss of life, Chwchill paid the price, both publicly and privately³. He was removed from the admiralty and effectively sidelined.

温斯顿·丘吉尔，在他四十多岁时开始迷恋上绘画，当时环境异常恶劣。那是在1915年，任海军大臣的他，积极投身于在达达尼尔海峡的一场战役中，这场战役本可以缩短那段血雨腥风的世界大战。但由于遭受失败，伤亡惨重，丘吉尔于公于私都付出了代价。他被从海军部调离且实则坐起了冷板凳。

Overwhelmed by the catastrophe⁴, he retired⁵ with his family to Hoe Farm, a country retreat in Surrey. There, as Churchill later recalled, "The muse⁶ of painting came to my rescue!"

在灾难的折磨下，他携家带口来到萨利郡的一处乡间静居霍庄园。在那儿，丘吉尔后来回忆道:“是绘画中的冥思拯救了我!”

Wandering in the garden one day, he chanced upon his sister-in-law sketching⁷ with watercolors. He watched her for a few minutes, then borrowed her brush and tried his hand.

一天他在花园散步时，偶然看到他的弟媳在用水彩作画。他观察了几分钟，然后向她借了画笔并一试身手。

Churchill soon decided⁸ to experiment with oils. At that time, John Lavery一a Churchill neighbor and celebrated⁹ painter-was tutoring Churchill in his art. Later, Lavery said of his unusual pupil, "Had he chosen painting instead of statesmanship, I believe he would have been a great master with the brush."

丘吉尔很快就决定试着去画油画。那时，约翰·拉威利—丘吉尔的邻居，也是一位有名的画家正教丘吉尔学画。后来提及他的这位特殊的学生，拉威利说:“倘若他选择绘画而不是从政，我相信他会是位绘画大师的。”

In painting, Churchill had discovered a companion with whom he was to walk for the greater part of the years that remained to him.

在绘画中，丘吉尔找到了能陪他度过余生大部分时光的知己。

Historians have called the decade after 1929, when the Conservative government fell and Winston was out of office, his wilderness¹⁰ years. Politically he may have been wandering in barren places, a lonely fighter trying to awaken¹¹ Britain to the menace of Hitler, but artistically¹² that wilderness bore abundant fruit. During these years he often painted in the South of France. Of the 500-odd canvases extant, roughly 250 date from 1930 to 1939.

史学家把1929年后的十年，也就是保守党政府垮台而温斯顿下台的时间，称为他的荒凉岁月。政治上，他一直在举步维艰的处境中排徊，是一个孤独的勇士在努力唤起受到希特勒威胁的英国人，但在艺术上他在那荒凉岁月却硕果累累。那些年他经常在法国南部作画。在现存的500多张油画中，大约250张是1930至1939年间的作品。

Painting remained a joy to Churchill to the end of his life. "Happy are the painters." he had written in his book Painting as a Pastime, "for they shall not be lonely. Light and color, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end of the day."

绘画给丘吉尔带来了乐趣，直到他的人生尽头。在他所著的《画中的消遣》里说:“画家其乐融融，因为他们不会孤独。光与色.和平与希望，会始终伴随他们。”