Graham Sutherland

Graham Vivian Sutherland One of a generation of students who, influenced by Samuel Palmer, revived the art of etching with a romantic vision of the English landscape. The Pembrokeshire coast was a lifelong source of inspiration. His acclaimed painting of the writer Somerset Maugham (1949) began a revival in the art of portraiture. Sutherland contributed to the International Surrealist Exhibition in London and was an Official War Artist. He designed the Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph for Coventry Cathedral. Sutherland's portrait of Churchill, to mark his 80th birthday caused a sensation at its unveiling in 1954, and was subsequently destroyed by the sitter's wife.

Text © National Portrait Gallery, London