《Winston Churchill 》
《温斯顿·丘吉尔》
Winston Churchill began his love affair with painting in his 40's, a mid disastrous circum-stance. 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 bloody world war.
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。
But when the mission failed, with great loss of life, Chwchill paid the price, both publicly and privately. He was removed from the admiralty and effectively sidelined.
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 catastrophe, he retired with his family to Hoe Farm, a country retreat in Surrey. There, as Churchill later recalled, "The muse 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 sketching 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 decided to experiment with oils. At that time, John Lavery一a Churchill neighbor and celebrated 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 wilderness years. Politically he may have been wandering in barren places, a lonely fighter trying to awaken Britain to the menace of Hitler, but artistically that wilderness bore abundant fruit.
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。
During these years he often painted in the South of France. Of the 500-odd canvases extant, roughly 250 date from 1930 to 1939.
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。”
温斯顿·丘吉尔的影响:
1,英国首相温斯顿·丘吉尔是在第二次世界大战期间,带领英国人民取得反法西斯战争伟大胜利的民族英雄,是与斯大林,罗斯福并立的“三巨头”之一,是矗立于世界史册上的一代伟人。
2,丘吉尔出身于声名显赫的贵族家庭。他的祖先马尔巴罗公爵是英国历史上的著名军事统帅,是安妮女王统治时期英国政界权倾一时的风云人物;他的父亲伦道夫勋爵是上世纪末英国的杰出政治家,曾任索尔兹伯里内阁的财政大臣。
3,祖先的丰功伟绩,父辈的政治成就以及家族的荣耀和政治传统,无疑对丘吉尔的一生产生了十分巨大的影响,在他成长为英国一代名相的过程中具有关键性作用。他们为丘吉尔提供了学习的榜样,树立了奋斗目标,也培育了他对祖国的历史责任感,成为丘吉尔一生孜孜不倦地追求和建功立业的强大驱动力。
4,丘吉尔未上过大学,他的渊博知识和多方面才能是经过刻苦自学得来的。他年轻时驻军于印度南部的班加罗尔,在那里有半年多的时间里他“每天阅读四小时或五小时的历史和哲学著作”。
5,丘吉尔从柏拉图,吉本,麦考利,叔本华,莱基,马尔萨斯,达尔文,王尔德等著名思想家,哲学家,历史学家和生物学家的著作中吸取了丰富的思想营养,为他以后从政带来巨大作用。这使他的思想更加深刻,人生信念更加坚定。