Danica

Oscar Nemon (1906 - 1985)

Coloured bronze relief

plaster c1947, cast 2003

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Image of Danica
  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Croatia
    City: Zagreb
    Place: British Embassy

    The sensuous lines of the female nude, reclining by the side of water, complement those of the horses grazing in the background. While mourning the death of his mother and brother at Auschwitz in the 1940s, Nemon recounted that this pastoral scene referred to the folk tales he remembered from happier childhood days. The blue patination recalls the colours of the Adriatic. 'Danica' was first created in plaster and stored in Nemon's studio, before being cast in 2003.

    Oscar Nemon was born in Osijek, in modern Croatia, and developed an early talent for drawing and sculpture. After working at his uncle's bronze foundry in Vienna in the early 1920s, he studied in Paris and at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels. He moved to England and settled in Oxford, developing a reputation as a leading sculptor and receiving commissions from notable figures. His reliefs of the 1940s and 1950s reveal a more personal, intimate side to his work.

  • About the artist
    Oscar Nemon was born in Osijek (today in Croatia), and began modelling in clay at the age of 14, after which he devoted himself to sculpture. In 1923 he lived in Vienna where he cast works at his uncle’s bronze foundry. He studied in Paris and at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts, Brussels, and exhibited sculptures of notable figures in the 1930s. After moving to England, he settled in Oxford, and held his first exhibition in London in 1942. He became a British citizen, and received commissions for portraits of the Queen, Harold MacMillan, Sigmund Freud and other important 20th century figures. Nemon continued to work up to his death in 1985, and today many of his works can still be seen at his house and studio in Oxford.
  • Explore
    Places
    Subjects
    horse, woman, nude, Slavic mythology
    Materials & Techniques
    bronze, bronze sculpture, coloured
  • Details
    Artist
    Oscar Nemon (1906 - 1985)
    Title
    Danica
    Edition
    1/12
    Date
    plaster c1947, cast 2003
    Medium
    Coloured bronze relief
    Dimensions
    height: 40.80 cm, depth: 2.50 cm, width: 57.80 cm
    Acquisition
    Presented by Alice Nemon Stuart, March 2004
    Inscription
    r edge: © EST. OF NEMON 2003 1/12
    Provenance
    Alice Nemon Stuart (daughter-in-law of artist)
    GAC number
    17863