Lot 46: Ivor Roberts-Jones, R.A. (1913-1996)

Winston Churchill; portrait study
plaster
6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.), high, excluding base
Conceived circa 1970. The present work is an original unique studio plaster.

Ipswich, Wolsey Gallery, Christchurch Mansion, December 1999 - January 2000, no. B/H L21.

The Winston Churchill Commissions

In 1970, the Royal Fine Arts Commission (members at that time including Henry Moore and John Piper) approached nine sculptors to compete for the Parliament Square Winston Churchill Monument commission. Two of these, Ivor Roberts-Jones and Oscar Nemon, were selected to submit revised proposals, and by November 1970, the Commission had selected Roberts-Jones as the sculptor.

However, Lady Churchill was determined that it should be Oscar Nemon who won the commission and due to her reservations, the Commissioners agreed to look at two larger maquettes by both sculptors. Kyffin Williams, who was a staunch supporter of Roberts-Jones and who maintained a lively interest in the project throughout, arranged a private view of Roberts-Jones' maquettes in his own studio for Lady Churchill. In 1971, Roberts-Jones was announced as the chosen sculptor and the statue was unveiled in Parliament Square in 1973 (see lots 46-50).

Roberts-Jones' brilliant portrayal of Churchill has since achieved iconic status in the national psyche, the figure exuding total confidence; 'facing the Houses of Parliament, their greatest servant in modern times is portrayed as a giant at the height of his powers' (P. Cannon-Brookes, Ivor Roberts-Jones, London, 1983, p. 57).

Unsurprisingly, further commissions on the Churchill theme followed this great success, with the Oslo statue unveiled in 1975, and that of New Orleans in 1977 (see lot 51). The Oslo delegation requested 'an image of Winston Churchill as world statesman and man of peace and reconciliation... the New Orleans figure took as its point of departure a specific moment in the life of Winston Churchill, when he briefly visited New Orleans towards the end of the Second World War. Ivor Roberts-Jones was asked to characterize Churchill as the great leader of the Western world at the time of this visit' (op.cit. p. 59).

Circa 1994/1995, Roberts-Jones received a commission for a Churchill monument in Prague. He began work, and, as with the previous statues in London, Oslo and New Orleans, was modelling a different image of Britain's famous wartime leader. However, Roberts-Jones died in 1996 with the sculpture incomplete. The Prague delegation wanted a replica of the Parliament Square monument, and, with the authorisation of Monica Roberts-Jones, the artist's widow, a unique life-size plaster cast was taken from the London statue to create a bronze monument in Prague (see lot 52).

The present work and lots 47 and 48 are portrait studies for the Winston Churchill Monument, Parliament Square.

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