“With the fewest of strokes, he can create an impression at once true and beautiful. Here is no toiling seeker after preconceived effects, but a vivid and powerful interpreter to us of the forces and harmony of Nature”.
Sir Winston Churchill of Paul Maze in 1939.
Zuleika Gallery is thrilled to announce its new exhibition in collaboration with Blenheim Palace, Paul Maze and Winston Churchill: Companions of the Brush on view from 11th July – 13th November in the newly refurbished Palace Exhibition Suite.
The exhibition will be hosted by Blenheim Palace and will be a showcase of Winston Churchill’s love of painting and lifelong friendship with renowned Anglo-French artist Paul Maze, the official painter of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.
The exhibition is being staged in association with Zuleika Gallery and curated by Lizzie Collins and Philippa Hogan Hern. It will feature paintings by both men from the Duke of Marlborough’s private collection, alongside loans from the Estate of Paul Maze, other collections, personal effects and archive material.
It also includes the set of toy lead soldiers which Maze gave to the nine-year-old, John Spencer-Churchill, future 11th Duke of Marlborough, as a 1935 Christmas gift at the suggestion of Winston, who was himself born at Blenheim.
Maze was affectionately referred to as ‘The Cher Maitre’ and ‘Companion of the brush’ by Churchill’s family. The pair first met in the trenches on the Western Front in 1915/6. Their shared love of painting was to lead to a life-long friendship and artistic mentorship with frequent reunions at Blenheim Palace, Chartwell and the Chateau of St-Georges-Motel in Normandy, home of Consuelo Balsan, the former 9th Duchess of Marlborough.
Often referred to as ‘the last of the Post-Impressionists’, Maze particularly enjoyed capturing London views, still life, the English countryside and the English Season – Race meetings, Trooping the Colour, Henley Eights and Cowes Week. He was invited to record the funeral of King George VI on 15th February 1952 and was the official painter of HM the Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation on 2nd June 1953.
