Sir Winston Churchill By Oscar Nemon
Sir Winston Churchill, A Bronze Maquette For The Statue In The Members Lobby in The Houses of Parliament. By Oscar Nemon 1906-1985.
Numbered 5/12.
By the Morris Singer Foundry.
The present work is a scale model of the monumental and imposing sculpture of Britain's greatest statesman, Sir Winston Churchill, which currently resides in the Member’s Lobby in the Houses of Parliament. The two main doors of the Lobby are winged by sculptures of four British prime ministers, Clement Atlee and Margaret Thatcher and outside what is now called the Churchill Arch, are the ministers who led Britain through each of the World Wars, Churchill and David Lloyd George. The arch was significantly damaged during the Second World War, and when it was rebuilt Churchill instructed that it retain some of the bomb damaged stones, as a testament to the conflict. It is perhaps no surprise then that when Oscar Nemon was chosen to produce a portrait of Churchill to stand alongside David Lloyd George, he chose to depict the great man with his hand on his hips, assessing the damage as he strode through London’s Blitz torn landscape.
Oscar Nemon had first met Churchill on a trip to Marrakesh, where he had travelled to visit a friend. In an unpublished memoir, Nemon recalls how he first encountered Churchill at the dining room of the hotel in which he was staying. Afraid
of approaching him, Nemon studied the hero of the Second World War from across the room, making mental notes so that he could work on a small bust in his room. When Clementine Churchill, Winston’s wife, was alerted to this, she had the artist send the bust over to their party; she found the result so impressive that she wrote to the artist asking to keep it. It should not, she requested, be altered as she had “seen so many portraits and busts spoilt by attempting to get an exact likeness. Your bust represents to me my husband as I see him and as I think of him, and I would like to have it just as it is”.
Sir Winston Churchill, A Bronze Maquette For The Statue In The Members Lobby in The Houses of Parliament. By Oscar Nemon 1906-1985.
Numbered 5/12.
By the Morris Singer Foundry.
The present work is a scale model of the monumental and imposing sculpture of Britain's greatest statesman, Sir Winston Churchill, which currently resides in the Member’s Lobby in the Houses of Parliament. The two main doors of the Lobby are winged by sculptures of four British prime ministers, Clement Atlee and Margaret Thatcher and outside what is now called the Churchill Arch, are the ministers who led Britain through each of the World Wars, Churchill and David Lloyd George. The arch was significantly damaged during the Second World War, and when it was rebuilt Churchill instructed that it retain some of the bomb damaged stones, as a testament to the conflict. It is perhaps no surprise then that when Oscar Nemon was chosen to produce a portrait of Churchill to stand alongside David Lloyd George, he chose to depict the great man with his hand on his hips, assessing the damage as he strode through London’s Blitz torn landscape.
Oscar Nemon had first met Churchill on a trip to Marrakesh, where he had travelled to visit a friend. In an unpublished memoir, Nemon recalls how he first encountered Churchill at the dining room of the hotel in which he was staying. Afraid
of approaching him, Nemon studied the hero of the Second World War from across the room, making mental notes so that he could work on a small bust in his room. When Clementine Churchill, Winston’s wife, was alerted to this, she had the artist send the bust over to their party; she found the result so impressive that she wrote to the artist asking to keep it. It should not, she requested, be altered as she had “seen so many portraits and busts spoilt by attempting to get an exact likeness. Your bust represents to me my husband as I see him and as I think of him, and I would like to have it just as it is”.
Sir Winston Churchill, A Bronze Maquette For The Statue In The Members Lobby in The Houses of Parliament. By Oscar Nemon 1906-1985.
Numbered 5/12.
By the Morris Singer Foundry.
The present work is a scale model of the monumental and imposing sculpture of Britain's greatest statesman, Sir Winston Churchill, which currently resides in the Member’s Lobby in the Houses of Parliament. The two main doors of the Lobby are winged by sculptures of four British prime ministers, Clement Atlee and Margaret Thatcher and outside what is now called the Churchill Arch, are the ministers who led Britain through each of the World Wars, Churchill and David Lloyd George. The arch was significantly damaged during the Second World War, and when it was rebuilt Churchill instructed that it retain some of the bomb damaged stones, as a testament to the conflict. It is perhaps no surprise then that when Oscar Nemon was chosen to produce a portrait of Churchill to stand alongside David Lloyd George, he chose to depict the great man with his hand on his hips, assessing the damage as he strode through London’s Blitz torn landscape.
Oscar Nemon had first met Churchill on a trip to Marrakesh, where he had travelled to visit a friend. In an unpublished memoir, Nemon recalls how he first encountered Churchill at the dining room of the hotel in which he was staying. Afraid
of approaching him, Nemon studied the hero of the Second World War from across the room, making mental notes so that he could work on a small bust in his room. When Clementine Churchill, Winston’s wife, was alerted to this, she had the artist send the bust over to their party; she found the result so impressive that she wrote to the artist asking to keep it. It should not, she requested, be altered as she had “seen so many portraits and busts spoilt by attempting to get an exact likeness. Your bust represents to me my husband as I see him and as I think of him, and I would like to have it just as it is”.