Meetings in Marrakech: the paintings of Winston Churchill and Hassan El Glaoui on show for the first time together.
PRESS PREVIEW: 10:00 – 12:00, 19 January, with traditional Moroccan refreshments. RSVP: maxim.bendall@kallaway.com
- 20 January – 31 March 2012 at Leighton House Museum, Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ
- Sir Winston Churchill’s paintings exhibited with another artist for the first time, many of El Glaoui’s paintings never before shown in the UK.
- The unique bond shared by these two men has created this exhibition: only at Churchill’s insistence was the son of the Pasha of Marrakech allowed to paint. El Glaoui is now one of Africa’s most significant artists.
- Her Excellency Her Highness Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui of Morocco will open the exhibition.
- IMAGES: http://bit.ly/elglaoui
A fascinating new exhibition at Leighton House, Holland Park Road, brings together for the first time a unique collection of work by two painters from two radically different cultures: Sir Winston Churchill and Hassan El Glaoui.
The exhibition, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco, will be opened by Her Excellency Her Highness Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui, Ambassador of His Majesty the King of Morocco to The Court of Saint James’s.
Nine of the 24 paintings on display are by Churchill, while many of the 15 El Glaoui paintings in the exhibition have never been on show in the UK before. The collection is a mixture of watercolours, oils and gouache landscapes of Morocco. It will also be the first time the paintings of Churchill have been publically exhibited alongside another artist’s work.
Churchill and El Glaoui’s bond is unique: it was only through Churchill’s intervention that Hassan El Glaoui, the young Berber tribesman, was permitted to pursue professionally his passion for painting. Hassan El Glaoui, the son of the Pasha of Marrakech, Hadj Thami El Glaoui – also known as the Black Panther – was born into one of the oldest Berber families in Morocco, who for generations were considered the most fearless warriors of the Atlas region. Against his father’s wishes, Hassan chose to follow an artistic path and become a painter – something that was at the time considered highly unsuitable for a Berber tribesman.
During a trip to Marrakech, while visiting the Glaoui Family in 1943, Winston Churchill was shown some paintings by the young Hassan El Glaoui, and seeing the high quality of the work insisted to his father, his old friend the Pasha of Marrakech, that he be allowed to pursue his passion for painting. It was at Churchill’s behest that El Glaoui was allowed to continue to paint, and in doing so set El Glaoui on the path to becoming one of Morocco’s most significant artists, who’s work today is among the most sought after contemporary North African art in the world, commanding huge sums at auction.
Sir Winston Churchill, who as well as being Britain’s iconic war-time Prime-Minister was also an accomplished landscape painter, first visited the Moroccan city of Marrakech in 1935. He would develop a lasting affection for the city, which Churchill considered “one of the loveliest spots in the whole world”, and would paint the city many times.
Now for the first time El Glaoui and Churchill’s paintings are brought together, revealing surprising similarities between these two men. El Glaoui’s depictions of warriors riding on horseback into battle, such as those shown in this exhibition, would have been familiar to Churchill, who was part of the cavalry engaged in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Churchill often gave his paintings as gifts to visiting Statesmen, such as the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today dignitaries and statesmen such as George Bush and Jacques Chirac receive paintings by Hassan El Glaoui during their official visits to Morocco.
Daniel Robbins, Director of Leighton House Museum said: “We are extremely fortunate to have these unique collections here at Leighton House, not only because they are outstanding paintings from a beautiful part of North West Africa, but because they tell such a remarkable story. They reveal both a hitherto unseen glimpse into the private and artistic life of one of Britain’s most significant figures, Winston Churchill, and the beautifully expressive work of one of Morocco’s most significant painters, Hassan El Glaoui”.
Hassan El Glaoui said: “Painting has always been my life – it is unthinkable to me not to paint. However I often realise that without that fateful meeting with Winston Churchill in 1943 my parent’s attitude to me painting might have prevented me enjoying such a wonderful and fulfilling life as an artist.
It is a wonderful privilege to share this exhibition with the work of a man who not only is so historically significant, but with whom I share such a profound personal significance with as well”.
Celia Sandys, Granddaughter of Winston Churchil said: “I hope that my grandfather is smiling down on this exhibition. He would have liked the idea of the paintings which gave him so much pleasure, in a country that he loved so much, hanging side by side with those by Hassan El Glaoui, the son of his old friend the Pasha of Marrakech.”
Leighton House Museum - an international symbol of east meeting west, renowned for its opulent Arabic hall, Victorian interiors and priceless collection of Damascan tiles – will host the exhibition.
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Meetings in Marrekech: The Paintings of Hassan El Glaoui and Winston Churchill
Press Preview: 19 January, 10:00 – 12:00
Location: Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ.
RSVP: maxim.bendall@kallaway.com or phone 07540 524928 / 0207 221 7883
Celia Sandys, Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, Touria El Glaoui, Hassan El Glaoui’s daughter and Daniel Robbins, Curator of Leighton House Museum will be available for interview.
Traditional Moroccan refreshments - Fresh Moroccan mint tea and "Kab-El-Ghazal" (translation “the horn of gazelle” - a type of traditional Almond cookie) - will be served.
Press Information and Images:
Kallaway PR
William Kallaway, william.kallaway@kallaway.com 020 7221 7883
Maxim Bendall, maxim.bendall@kallaway.com, 020 7221 7883 / 07540 524928
About Leighton House Museum
Located on the edge of Holland Park in Kensington, the house is one of the most remarkable buildings of the 19th century.
The house was the former home and studio of the leading Victorian artist, Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896). The Arab Hall is the centerpiece of the house. Designed to display Leighton’s priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, mostly brought back from Damascus in Syria, the interior with its gold mosaics, marble columns and golden dome evokes a compelling vision of the Orient.
The opulence continues through the other richly decorated interiors, with elaborate mosaic floors and walls lined with peacock blue tiles by the ceramic artist William De Morgan. On the first floor is the Silk Room with its display of paintings by Leighton’s friends and contemporaries and the grand painting studio with its great north window, dome and apse – the room in which all Leighton’s important later works were produced including the celebrated Flaming June.
Leighton rose to become the President of the Royal Academy in 1878 and the pre-eminent classical painter of his age. He remains the only British artist to have been raised to the peerage, becoming Baron Leighton of Stretton just before he died. He was buried in St Paul’s cathedral amidst great ceremony.
The house was restored to great acclaim in 2009 and contains a number of the paintings and objects that originally belonged to Leighton.
About Hassan El Glaoui
Hassan El Glaoui, born in 1923, is the son of Hadj Thami El Glaoui, Pasha of Marrakech, one of the oldest Berber families going back for more than three hundred years in the Atlas region and known as the most fearless warriors. Hassan, more independent in nature chose to follow an artistic path, which was considered a waste of time as well as a dishonour to the proud tribe of The Glaoua. Rather than pursuing the more acceptable positions in politics he decided to continue painting, despite parental objection.
He owes his career as a painter to two important men that who’s support dispelled his father objections to Hassan becoming an artist. First, Sir Winston ChurchilI, who during the war while visiting Marrakech was shown few paintings, and insisted that Hassan was talented and should be allowed to pursue his passion. Second, General Goodyear, a notable collector and founding president of the Museum of Modern Art in New York received by the Pasha in Marrakech wrote about Hassan after seeing his paintings:
“I have visited Hassan in his studio and I was really impressed by the freshness and vivacity of his paintings, mostly painted in gouache, the only material he used then. His horsemen still have that look of great Arabs and his portraits are always the character of his models, its fast and bright leaves nothing to the precision of his touch. “
Mr. Goodyear’s praise for Hassan El Glaoui’s work earned him great opportunities during his first exhibition in Paris, in 1950.
Hassan moved in 1952 into a studio in Paris and was a pupil of Madame Charmy (famous painter in Paris at the time) and Monsieur Souverbie (who specialized in drawing technique).
A succession of exhibitions followed in Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Madrid and Toulouse. In 1964, Hassan El Glaoui actively returned to Morocco where he exhibited for the first time in Casablanca, to rapturous acclaim. This was followed by exhibitions in Rabat, Marrakech, Cannes, Marseille and London.
Hassan El Glaoui place his figures against a background so vibrant, that we are instantly plunged into ethnic nobility and the elegance of its exotic theme. There are also subtle landscapes and portraits of famous Moroccan royal guards in the collection. It is a rare opportunity to see the work of a Moroccan painter who brings an innate understanding of oriental art and its graceful interpretation to the oeuvre of modern expressionism.
About Sir Winston Churchill in Morocco
Besides being a legendary statesman, Sir Winston Churchill was also the stout defender of the “free peoples,” the author of 43 books, as well as accomplished and talented landscape painter. In fact, he earned the prestigious “Honorary Academician Extraordinary by the Royal Academy of Arts” award in 1948. During the last 50 years of his life – he did not take up the paintbrush until he was 40 –Churchill completed 500 paintings, the vast majority of which are still in his Chartwell home.
Besides its illustrious painter, many of the paintings in this exhibition have enormous historical significance because they were painted at one of the major turning points during WWII. The first of the three great Allied conferences of WWII was held in Casablanca from January 14th to 24th, 1943. The US had successfully landed troops on the North West African continent in Operation TORCH, beginning the long awaited “second front”. Churchill and the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt met and it was here that they agreed upon only accepting “unconditional surrender” from the Axis powers. At the end of the conference, Roosevelt was anxious to get home, but Churchill begged and convinced him to take some time off to go visit Marrakech. Churchill said “You cannot come all this way to North Africa without seeing Marrakech. Let us spend two days there. I must be with you when you see the sun set on the Atlas Mountains.” They made the 150-mile journey with the road lined with American soldiers cheering them on. Staying at the Villa Taylor, which was owned by the wealthy American socialite Mrs. Moses Taylor, Churchill convinced Roosevelt to view the sunset from the top of the famed Berber tower. The President’s personal assistants, making a chair with their crossed arms, carried him to the top. Roosevelt was so taken with the scene from the tower; he exclaimed to the Prime Minister “I feel like a sultan, you may kiss my hand my dear.”
It was during this visit to Marrakech that Churchill would paint his only painting of the war years – a painting of the Berber Tower, which he would give to President Roosevelt as a memento of their journey together.
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