Oscar Nemon Studio Museum and Archive
About the Oscar Nemon Studio Museum and Archive
The Oscar Nemon Studio Museum and Archive are two separate buildings set in the garden of Pleasant Land, the sculptor’s home for forty years.
Nemon lived and sculpted here from the 1940s until his death in 1985. Famous for his portraits of Churchill and Freud, and originally from Yugoslavia, now Croatia, Nemon came to Britain as an émigré and then Jewish refugee in the 1930s.
The Nemon Studio Museum is surrounded by trees and fields off a quiet lane on Boars Hill, a twenty minutes drive from the centre of Oxford. Visitors can see a recreation of Nemon’s working studio, where you can learn how sculptures are made and cast. And there are two guided displays.
There is onsite parking, including access for visitors with mobility restrictions, two toilets, and a gift shop selling books and casts of the sculptures. Tea, coffee and cake and biscuits are available. Teas can be taken in the Archive or wild garden, depending on personal preferences.
The Nemon Studio Museum is open from 2.00pm to 5.30pm for free drop-in visits with complimentary tea or coffee and light refreshments, on the last Saturday of every month, with the option of donating towards the upkeep of the centre.
The Estate of Oscar Nemon owns and defends Oscar Nemon’s copyrights, and manages the Nemon Archive and Pleasant Land Studios.
In addition to the range of hand-cast resin and bronze resin busts sold at the Nemon Studio and through eBay and selected retail outlets, the Nemon Estate occasionally casts strictly limited editions of Oscar Nemon’s work in bronze in conjunction with Pangolin Editions. All Nemon Estate bronze castings are dated, signed, numbered and identified to the Estate.
Getting there
Turn off The Ridgeway down the lane with the sign Pleasant Land. First left off this lane, then park by the turning circle, including in front of the white garages.
Walk down the left-hand side of the large white building, which is let out as flats, to the Nemon Studio Museum which is the white oval building in the wild garden to the rear of the main house.
For visitors without cars, there is no longer public transport to Boars Hill, but taxis can be booked from Oxford or Abingdon costing approximately £20. Visitors can equally walk up from the bus stop in Wootton village, which takes approximately 30 minutes.
