Bronze commemorative bust of Barack Hussein Obama

Douglas Jennings MRSS (born 24 September 1966) is an English sculptor and a Member of the

Royal Society of Sculptors The Royal Society of Sculptors is a British charity established in 1905 which promotes excellence in the art and practice of sculpture. Its headquarters are a centre for contemporary sculpture on Old Brompton Road, South Kensington, London. It ...

Career

Jennings studied Classical figurative sculpture at Stafford Art College and was inspired by the works of

Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

. Between 1999 and 2003 he specialized in portrait sculpture for

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...

and was responsible for waxwork models of

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...

, Charles Kennedy, Robin Williams and Nicolas Cage in 2008. Jennings trained as a classical sculptor and is a life member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. He specialises in producing monumental art works for public figures in the world of sport, entertainment and politics. His artwork is in private and public collections worldwide. He is known for producing public sculpture that captivates with its level of detail, naturalistic style and the beauty of his work. Jennings completed a bronze memorial of Johnny Haynes in 2008. Installed at Fulham FC, Haynes is widely regarded as the greatest footballer ever to play for the London club. He also made 56 appearances for England, including 22 as captain. In 2017 Douglas completed another commission for Fulham FC – a commemorative bronze statue of

George Cohen George Reginald Cohen (22 October 1939 – 23 December 2022) was an English professional footballer who played as a right-back. He spent his entire professional career with Fulham, and won the 1966 World Cup with England. He was inducted int ...

MBE. The piece was unveiled at Fulham FC to celebrate Cohen's remarkable career and the 50th anniversary of England's famous World Cup victory in 1966. In 2015 the quality of Douglas's work was commended by the

Public Monuments and Sculpture Association The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA) was an organisation established in 1991 to bring together individuals and organisations with an interest in British public sculptures and monuments, their production, preservation and history ...

. He was presented with the

Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture The Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture is an annual award for public sculpture in the UK or Ireland. The Award is funded by the Marsh Charitable Trust and is made on the recommendation of a panel of judges under the auspices of the Pu ...

for his WWII memorial statue of Squadron Leader

Mahinder Singh Pujji Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji DFC (14 August 1918 – 18 September 2010), also known as Mahinder Singh Pujji, was a distinguished Royal Air Force fighter pilot and one of the first Indian Sikh pilots to volunteer with the Royal Air Force ...

. This was commissioned by Gravesham Borough Council and is located in public parkland by the River Thames. In 2016 Jennings was commissioned to create a bronze memorial statue of Baroness Margaret Thatcher dressed in full ceremonial robes of the House of Lords. The piece was planned to be erected in Parliament Square, but controversially, Westminster council turned down the plan because of what officials describe as "monument saturation". On 15 May 2022, the

new statue New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

was installed on St Peter's Hill Green in Thatcher's home town of Grantham, close to

Grantham Museum Grantham Museum is located at St Peter's Hill, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, in the building provided for it in 1926. The building also housed the public library, and was partly funded by the Carnegie UK Trust which was continuing Andrew Carn ...

, but was attacked with eggs within two hours of its unveiling. Jennings created a statue of the Queen to mark Her Majesty's 90th birthday celebrations, in 2018. The artwork was commissioned by Gravesham Council and is believed to be the only statue showing the Queen seated. The bronze statue, mounted on a stone plinth, features the monarch dressed in her

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...

robes.

References

External links

* 1966 births Living people English male sculptors British portrait artists 20th-century British sculptors 21st-century English sculptors 21st-century male artists {{UK-sculptor-stub