A bronze portrait of Sir Winston Churchill by Rufus Martin, 2023

A bronze portrait of Sir Winston Churchill by Rufus Martin, 2023 This head and shoulders bronze bust is instantly recognizable as Sir Winston Churchill.  He is wearing a British Warm greatcoat with epaulettes and has a half-smoked cigar in the left hand resting on his hip.  His right hand is raised in his trade mark V-for-Victory salute.  Signed ‘Rufus Martin 1/12’. 

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 –1965) was a British politician, army officer and writer.  He was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, when he led Britain to victory in the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955.  Churchill represented five constituencies during his career as a Member of Parliament.  Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, for most of his career he was a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955, but from 1904 to 1924 was a member of the Liberal Party.  This portrait of Churchill by Rufus Martin is striking for its juxtaposition of this famous historical subject and the free and contemporary choice of presentation.  Churchill’s tenure during the Second World War infused the nation with calm and confidence, providing the British people with strong leadership during its darkest hours.  Martin succeeds in portraying Churchill’s unshakeable belief in a successful outcome for the Allies through  his defiant stance, unwavering gaze and Victory V gesture.  Together with the recognizable “Bulldog” facial features and broad shoulders, this bust captures the subject in terms of character as well as being an accurate physical portrait .

Rufus Martin trained at Wimbledon College of the Arts, London, though his aptitude for 3D design and sculpture was apparent from a very young age.  His mother, a portrait painter, showed him the portrait sculptures of Augusta Savage, Jacob Epstein and Augustine Rodin, which inspired him to create a bust of his late mentor, Michael Howells.  He sculpts ‘intriguing individuals, always hoping to capture some element of their past or current struggles and to create something for the good of the community they inhabit and wherever possible for posterity’ – an ambition he has most successfully fulfilled with this powerful portrait.

After leaving college in 2017, with first class honours, Martin has won many prestigious prizes including the Tiranti Prize at the FACE, the Signature Art Award, the Chelsea Arts Club show for ‘Amy’, the True Blue Show, the Salmagundi Open Show, New York, Green & Stone Summer Show, the Chelsea Arts Society Summer Show, RBA Rising Stars, the Royal Cambrian Academy Open, the 

Binny Mathews & Sons joint show, The Next Big Thing and has been published in the Kings House Art Magazine.