Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

1 portrait of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

by Bryan Organ
oil on canvas, 1980
36 in. x 36 in. (914 mm x 914 mm)
Commissioned, 1980
Primary Collection
NPG 5366

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Bryan Organ (1935-), Painter. Artist or producer of 16 portraits, Sitter in 6 portraits.

This portraitback to top

From 1960 Macmillan was Chancellor of the University of Oxford. This portrait relates closely to Organ's diptych of the sitter painted at the same time for the University.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Gibson, Robin; Clerk, Honor, 20th Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1993, p. 23 Read entry

    After a succession of senior cabinet posts under Churchill and Eden, Macmillan succeeded to the Conservative leadership in 1957, the first intellectual, it was said, to lead the party since Balfour. As Prime Minister (1957-63), Macmillan presided over the crucial years of post-War recovery, exercizing formidable powers of statesmanship in the international arena and laying the foundation for Britain's entry into Europe. It is probably with the retreat from empire that Macmillan's name is most closely linked, signalled by his speech in 1960 to both Houses of the South African Parliament in which he declared: 'A wind of change is blowing through the continent.'

    From 1960 Macmillan was Chancellor of the University of Oxford. This portrait, commissioned by the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, relates closely to Bryan Organ's diptych of Macmillan painted at the same time for the University.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 591

Events of 1980back to top

Current affairs

Margaret Thatcher makes one of her most famous speeches, living up to her nickname of 'the Iron Lady'. The speech was given to the Conservative Party conference in Brighton in response to the media speculation that the party would go back on its counter-inflationary policies: 'The lady's not for turning!'

Art and science

John Lennon is murdered on the steps of his house. After fatally shooting him, Mark David Chapman calmly sat down on the pavement and waited to be arrested by police. Chapman had a history of mental illness and claimed that he had committed the murder as a way of getting attention.

International

Iraq invades Iran, beginning eight years of conflict. The invasion followed years of border disputes, but was precipitated by the 1979 revolution in Iran and the resulting instability which Saddam Hussein saw as an opportunity to expand Iraqi influence in the region. Despite early gains for Iraq, the conflict soon descended into a war of attrition with huge causalities caused by Iraq's use of chemical weapons.

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