

"The hotel and police are appealing for photographs by guests that show the print," the page said. The official Facebook page honouring Karsh's photography called for people to share their photos with the portrait to help narrow down when it had been swapped. The photograph was snapped by Karsh in Ottawa after Mr Churchill delivered a speech on World War II to the members of parliament.

"The hotel is incredibly proud to house this stunning Karsh collection, which was securely installed in 1998." For Winston Churchills 80th birthday, House of Commons and House of Lords commissioned a formal portrait by modern painter Graham Sutherland. "We are deeply saddened by this brazen act," she said. Hotel general manager Geneviève Dumas said it had been replaced with a copy of the original photograph. The portrait of Mr Churchill by Yousuf Karsh is displayed in the hotel alongside other work by the photographer, who lived there.

He served as Conservative Prime Minister twice - from 1940 to 1945 (before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955. The hotel is appealing for anyone with information to contact Ottawa Police. Winston Churchill was an inspirational statesman, writer, orator and leader who led Britain to victory in the Second World War. They are together matted in linen and spectacularly framed (13 x 25 inches inches overall).A staff member at the Fairmont Château Laurier discovered the famous 1941 Roaring Lion photograph of the former British prime minister had been swapped with a copy. March ,1945.” (It is worth noting that Churchill crossed the Rhine with General Bernard Montgomery on March 25, 1945.) The mount and presentation slip both have very slight paperclip shadows and faint creases. The print is in very good condition, matted with the original typed presentation slip on Prime Minister-headed notepaper: “With Mr. Russell & Sons photo stamp on the verso). It measures 4 1/2 x 5 inches and is floridly signed in ink on the mount (which measures 5 x 8 inches and bears Stoneman’s J. This is an original black & white gelatin print. For Churchill, on this particular occasion, Stoneman dispensed with the studio visit altogether, for obvious reasons.
#Winston churchill portrait archive#
This collection of postcard-sized prints grew over the years to an archive of over 10,000 subjects, with approximately 200 new subjects added each year. Eminent personalities were invited to sit for Stoneman at his studio and a single mounted print from each sitting was added to the Record. The National Photographic Record was created in 1917 at Stoneman’s instigation. It remains one of the most powerful photographs of Winston Churchill ever made, an image that predates Karsh’s “Roaring Lion” portrait by almost nine months. Stoneman also presented a copy to the National Portrait Gallery in London. Reputedly, a copy of this photograph was kept by Stalin on his desk in the Kremlin. It was a message that Stalin would choose to ignore. As a result, Churchill made the dangerous decision to send a personal message of warning to Joseph Stalin. Decrypted German Enigma messages had not only enabled him to predict Germany’s Balkan plans, they had revealed to him Germany’s “magnitude of design,” as he termed it, against its ally, Russia. Sensing the historical significance of the sitting, Stoneman recorded not just the date but the hour that his picture was taken: “3pm, 1 April 1941.” At that moment, Churchill was awaiting word of Germany’s invasion of Yugoslavia. Russell & Sons, but rather for the National Photographic Record, when he arrived at 10 Downing Street on the 1st of April, 1941 and was escorted up to the Cabinet Room. Stoneman was not, however, working for J. Churchill frequently used Stoneman’s bust-length portrait as his official photograph. Walter Stoneman (1876-1958) regularly photographed Churchill for the portrait firm J.

One of the most powerful photographs of Winston Churchill ever taken.
