Winston S. Churchill Typed Letter Signed.

CHURCHILL, Winston S. [Yousuf Karsh].

$18,000.00

Item Number: 139273

London:, December 9, 1955.

Rare typed letter signed by Winston S. Churchill to his brother and only sibling, Major John Churchill, framed with an original duotone print of Yousuf Karsh’s famed portrait of Churchill “The Roaring Lion” which, in May 1941, was featured on the cover of Life magazine and brought Karsh international fame. One page, on Churchill’s 21 Hyde Park Gate, London letterhead, the letter is addressed to Major John Churchill and reads in full, “9” December, 1955. “My dear Johnnie,” I am indeed obliged to you and Kitty for your birthday token and good wishes. The portraits are beautifully done and I am delighted to be able to hang them in Chartwell. Thank you both so much. “Yours sincerely, Winston S. Churchill.” John Strange Spencer-Churchill, known as Jack Churchill, was the younger son of Lord Randolph Churchill and his wife Jennie, and Winston Churchill’s only sibling. He served in the South African Light Horse alongside Winston in the Second Boer War in 1899–1900 and later fought in World War I. After the war, he became a businessman in the City of London firstly as a partner at stockbrokers Nelke, Phillips & Bendix from 1906 and then at Vickers, da Costa, making partner in 1921. In fine condition. Double matted and framed with an original duotone print of Yousuf Karsh’s famed portrait of Churchill taken in 1941. The portrait measures 9 inches by 10.5 inches. The entire piece measures 15 inches by 20 inches. Rare and desirable.

In 1935, Yousuf Karsh "was appointed official portrait photographer of the Canadian government and in 1941 achieved international fame with his portrait of Winston Churchill" (Cleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of Photography, 444). Karsh later wrote: "As a private citizen I approached Winston Churchill in 1941 with awe. He was more that a Great Man of the twentieth century: he was even more than an institution. He has become, and always will remains, a gigantic passage in human history... He marched in scowling and regarded my camera as he might regard the German enemy. His expression suited me perfectly, if I could capture it, but the cigar thrust between his teeth seemed somehow incompatible with such a solemn, formal occasion. Instinctively, I removed the cigar. At this time the Churchillian scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand placed on the hip in an attitude of anger. So he stands in my portrait in what always seemed to me the image of England in those years, defiant and unconquerable (Karsh Portfolio, 34). Churchill later said to Karsh, “You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed,” which led Karsh to name the portrait “The Roaring Lion.”