Finding Nemon
The Extraordinary Life of the Outsider Who Sculpted the Famous
By Aurelia Young with Julian Hale
This is the first biography of Oscar Nemon (1906-85), the artist who created some of Britain’s most iconic public sculptures. He was a flamboyant personality who charmed those who came into contact with him, including towering figures such as Winston Churchill, Sigmund Freud, Queen Elisabeth II and countless politicians and celebrities. Aurelia Young, the artist’s daughter, chronicles Nemon’s colourful life from humble origins as a Jew in modern-day Croatia through time spent in Vienna and Brussels to his finding refuge from the Nazis in England in the late 1930s.
Reading hundreds of letters, and interviewing people who had shared their lives with the sculptor at different times, and on different continents over a period of ten years, Aurelia was finally able to piece together the life story of a father she had only ever partially understood, all the while tracking down missing works, and identifying others whose subjects were unknown.
See also: Jewish Book Week
Peter Owen, September 2018