Married Love by Oscar Nemon

Oscar Nemon
1906 - 1985 | Croatian

Married Love

Signed “Nemon” (on reverse)
Bronze resin with green patina

This rousing and sentimental sculpture, commissioned by Lady Churchill herself, was created by revered Croatian sculptor Oscar Nemon. It stands as a testament to the lasting love between the steadfast British leader, Sir Winston Churchill, and his wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill. Lady Clementine sits smiling, legs crossed with her arms outstretched towards her husband. Sir Winston leans back in a casual, relaxed pose, with a serious yet calm expression. Entitled Married Love, the bronze resin composition is a reflection of the humanity and devotion between two of Great Britain’s finest politicians.

Nemon first met the great Sir Winston Churchill in 1951 in Marrakech, Morocco, where the pair formed a friendship. The artist was already a great admirer of the statesman. As a Croatian before emigrating to Britain in 1938, Nemon lost the great majority of his family in the Holocaust, and Churchill's efforts to defeat the Nazis deeply resonated with Nemon. When he and the Prime Minister finally met, the artist sculpted Churchill in his hotel room at La Mamounia, aided by preliminary sketches that survive today. Perhaps moved by the occasion of sculpting one of his heroes, Nemon’s rendition exudes an intensity and lifelike dynamism that greatly impressed the Churchills. As a result of the artist's success in rendering the leader, he was selected by Queen Elizabeth II the following year to create another bust of Churchill for Windsor Castle.

Lady Churchill long admired Oscar Nemon’s 1951 bust of her husband, later saying of the sculpture: “That is how I see him and that is how I love him.” Over twenty years after their first meeting, following the statesman’s death, Lady Churchill requested that Nemon create a sculpture of the couple together. Nemon joined the widow at her home in Princes Gate, London, where she sat for her portrait. The artist then used his previous experience sculpting the Prime Minister to create Married Love, masterfully capturing the love shared between the powerful duo. 

Oscar Nemon was born to a close Jewish family in Osijek, a bustling city in eastern Croatia. Already a burgeoning artist by the time he arrived in Vienna in the mid-1920s, he met Sigmund Freud and made several sculptures of the psychologist and his dog, Topsy. Nemon enrolled at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1925, where he won a gold medal for his sculpture. He remained in Brussels, sharing a home with René Magritte, until the outset of World War II in 1939 when he fled to England. His achievements in his first Churchill sculpture launched the artist to greater acclaim, and he would go on to make a number of busts of high-profile figures, including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip, Harry S Truman, Margaret Thatcher and more. Many of his sculptures are recognizable for their use of bronze resin, often called "cold cast bronze," which is created with a mixture of bronze powder and epoxy or other resin.

Married Love is further distinguished by unbroken provenance, with its previous owners acquiring it directly from Nemon’s studio. The original large-scale bronze stands on the grounds of Chartwell, and another version of this sculpture resides in Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill and the only non-royal house in the United Kingdom to hold the title of “Palace.”

Conceived circa 1978

19“ high x 29 5/8” wide x 19“ deep

Literature:
The Sunday Telegraph, 12 March 1978 (ill.b&w)

Provenance:
The Artist, from whom acquired directly by the family of the previous owner in 1978
Private Collection, Canada