David Coombs

Biography

David John Coombs (born February 1937) is a British author, historian, and teacher. He is a former editor of the Antique Collector and was a columnist for the British weekly trade magazine, Antiques Gazette. Coombs is best known for his research on Winston Churchill's art work, publishing two books on the subject (1967 and 2003). He has been described as "the official authority on Churchill's art." He produced and later revivised a catalogue which brings together all of Churchill's 500 or so paintings and 2 sculptures, in which each piece has been given a number prefixed with the letter C for Coombs. This catalogue also exist in the form of a digital archive of the paintings. His 1967 catalogue was described as "an indispensable catalogue" of Churchill's art. David Coombs's 2016 biography from Artnewsletter.com reads as follows: Dignified as an art historian, David Coombs is a writer, a visual arts journalist, amateur historian and pipe-smoker. In 1958 he used his boyhood interests to make his living in London, first at the antiquarian booksellers Henry Sotheran and then at the Parker Gallery, antique dealers, print and picture sellers specialising in marine art. Following this practical apprenticeship, David Coombs joined The Connoisseur magazine as an art journalist in 1962, then moving to become the Editor of its smaller sister The Antique Collector magazine from 1974 – 1994, when he retired. Frustrated by the lack of opportunity to share his enthusiasms, and seeing the possibilities of internet publication with the advent of the Apple Mac G3 in 1999, David Coombs launched in the summer of the same year his own online publication: ArtNewsLetter.com. This continues to evolve in its distinctly individual and idiosyncratic way. Between times: Following Sir Winston Churchill's death in 1965, David Coombs saw the need for an illustrated catalogue of his paintings: to protect his reputation in this regard for the future. This was published in 1967 as Churchill his pa

Bio from Wikipedia