Four Parishes Arts Society - February 2010

Oscar Nemon, sculptor by Lady Aurelia Young

Tuesday 12th January 2010

On a cold and frosty night many of the Arts Society members braved the weather to listen to a fascinating and interesting talk given by Lady Aurelia Young on the life of the sculptor Oscar Nemon who was her father. 

From Oscar Nemon’s birth on 13th March 1906 in Croatia through to his death 13th April l985 Lady Aurelia gave a vivid description of his life and work. Oscar first studied in Vienna followed by a short stay in Paris and then Brussels. At the outset of his career, like many struggling artists life was pretty hard. He was eventually rescued from his basement studio by an heiress in Vienna to work in a studio next to the Royal Palace where he met Professor Freud with whom he became great friends. In 1938 he came to England to escape from the Nazi persecution of the Jews. His mother, brother, grandmother, aunts and uncles all died in Auschwitz.

Twenty years later Oscar saw the picture of the beautiful statue he sculpted and had erected in Austria in remembrance of all those who had died in the concentration camp. On arrival in England he first went to Abinger in Surrey where he was taught English by Max Bearman and eventually he acquired a studio in Knightsbridge – which had been a mortuary! 

Lady Aurelia backed up this fascinating history of her father’s life and work with slides showing pictures of busts of many famous and well known people he had sculpted from several of Sir Winston Churchill with whom he had a long friendship; John Christie, founder of the Glyndbourne Opera, Sigmund Freud, Harold McMillan, Margaret Thatcher, the Queen Mother and two of Her Majesty the Queen and members of the Viennese Royal family, to name but a few. Oscar was commissioned by Wedgewood to do a bust of Princess Diana but before he could undertake the second sitting he died, suddenly. We saw the beautifully worded letter Princess Diana wrote to Lady Young’s mother and her family. We were even able to listen to a speech given by Sir Winston Churchill when he unveiled the full size sculpture of himself which is in the Guildhall London. Not only did he make sculptures but also Reliefs. There is a great deal of life and animation in his sculptures. He particularly liked doing busts of children and there is one of Sir Winston Churchill as a baby. In spite of all his wonderful work Oscar was excluded from being a member of the Royal Academy.

Lady Young’s mother was the daughter of a large landowner in Norfolk. The family did not approve of the marriage and she was cut off from the family fortune and her inheritance. Lady Young’s parents lived in Oxford where Oscar did sculptures of Oxford’s leading people. They had three children, Lady Young being the second but before the birth of the third child her mother became seriously ill and Oscar Nemon was told she would not live, but her life was saved by penicillin – she was the first person ever to be given it.

There is so much more to learn of Oscar Nemon’s life that I can recommend going along to one of Lady Young’s talks as she presents it so well.

FUTURE MEETING: Tuesday 9 February – QUARLEY HALL – Antiquarian Bookseller – Jane Arnold. “What makes an old book rare?” Members invited to bring along a book for discussion.