In the Titan's shadow: the Second World War and Ivor Roberts-Jones, Oscar Nemon and Franta Belsky

All three sculptors were greatly affected by their experiences during the Second World War. Nemon and Belsky came as refuges to Britain before the outbreak of war and felt they owed the country a singular debt of gratitude. Roberts-Jones and Belsky served in the British Army while Nemon was an ARP Warden and Fire Watcher. This paper will explore the post-war sculpture all three produced which celebrated senior British political and military figures - 'Titans who cast a long shadow' according to Roberts-Jones - who were key to the nation's war effort. Works by Roberts-Jones and Nemon depicting Winston Churchill are well-known but this paper will also touch on statues in London which are, perhaps, less familiar such as Roberts-Jones's 'Field Marshal Slim' (1988-90) and 'Field Marshal Alanbrooke'(1990-93) on Whitehall, Belsky's 'Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham' in Trafalgar Square (1966-67) and Nemon's 'Air Chief Marshal Portal' on Victoria Embankment (1974-75). The paper will also comment on the rivalry that existed between the three men, they often competed for the same commissions, with Roberts-Jones a touch resentful that his 'foreign' competitors appeared to receive such support from the British Establishment.