A Flat Calm on a High-Prowed Boat

There couldn't be two realms as opposed as Arts and Politics - one seeking authenticity and beauty, originality and spontaneity; the other Machiavellian schemes, mechanisms to an end. We regard the first with enthusiasm, whilst the last we might think of as dull, boring. The unlikely author of today’s painting needs no Political presentation. Not only did Churchill painted — having, like he said, “experiments with a child's paint-box led (…) to a complete outfit in oils” — but was also a celebrated author, remaining the only prime-minister honoured with a Literature Nobel Prize. In 1920, in office with the portfolio of Minister of Munitions, he sent five paintings to be exhibited in Paris, under the hidden name of Charles Morin, where they would be sold for £30. Recognition would come under a new pseudonym, Mr.Winter, when the Royal Academy, in 1947, conferred the title of Honorary Academician Extraordinary, after two pieces were accepted. But not always have canvas and painters played a happy part in politics. First of all, for those who regard politics and history as boring, go have a look at Józef Piłsudski’s crazy biography - this Polish hero had a life as imaginative as Jack London’s tales. In one episode, after refusing running for Presidency, his friend and elected president Narutowicz was assassinated. The killer was Eligiusz Niewiadomski, a Modernist Painter, who initially intended to murder Piłsudski. The Painter shot the newly elected president during the opening of an art exhibition, at the Zachęta Art Gallery. Churchill once said: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”, a great advice in favour of humanity, if only a young frustrated painter kept on painting after being refused, two times, admission in the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna… If one faces everything with the fresh eyes of a painter, even politics get covered with the colourful enthusiasm of an untold tale, a sad or a happy one Artur Deus Dionisio