Hiltunen, Eila (1922-2003), skulptör. Porträtterar Winston Churchill, 1974.

Konstmedalj av skulptör Eila Hiltinen (1922-2003), porträtterar 100-årsminnet av Winston Churchills (1874-1965) födelse, med hans V-tecken (för Victory), de välkända orden "Blood Sweat Tears" och med scener från flygbombningar under 2:a världskriget.

Modellerad år 1974 av Eila Hiltunen, signerad under halsen på åtsidan. Brons 45 mm. Vikt 56,0 gram. Mycket bra skick!

WINSTON CHURCHILL (1874-1965)
Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, född 30 november 1874 på Blenheim Palace, död 24 januari 1965 i London, var en brittisk politiker, författare och officer. Han var brittisk premiärminister 1940–1945 och 1951–1955. Som författare erhöll han Nobelpriset i litteratur 1953. Churchill blev även amerikansk hedersmedborgare 1963.

Churchill inledde sin karriär som officer och krigskorrespondent. Han var därefter ledamot i underhuset 1900–1922 och 1924–1964 där han representerade Konservativa partiet, med undantag för perioden 1904–1922 då han var medlem i Liberala partiet. Han var handelsminister 1908–1910, inrikesminister 1910–1911, marinminister 1911–1915 samt 1939–1940, minister för krigsmateriel 1917–1919, krigsminister 1919–1921, kolonialminister 1921–1922, Chancellor of the Exchequer (finansminister) 1924–1929 samt partiordförande för Konservativa partiet 1940–1955.

Churchill var son till den konservative politikern Randolph Churchill (1849–1895), som bland annat innehade posten som brittisk finansminister, och amerikanskan Jennie Jerome Churchill. Han blev bland annat far till Randolph Churchill (1911–1968).

Särskilt under krigsåren blev Winston Churchill känd för sina tal. Bland de många kända citaten finns: Det här är inte slutet. Det är inte ens början på slutet. Men det är, kanske, slutet på början ("Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."). Citatet återspeglar Churchills bedömning av krigssituationen efter det avgörande slaget vid el-Alamein.

I en omröstning, arrangerad av det brittiska TV-bolaget BBC, framröstades Churchill år 2002, i konkurrens med bland andra Newton och Shakespeare, till ”tidernas främste britt”.

EILA HILTUNEN (1922-2003)
Eila Vilhelmina Hiltunen (22 November 1922, Sortavala – 10 October 2003, Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor. She is most famous for the Sibelius Monument (1967). A statue by Hiltunen resembling a smaller version of the Sibelius Monument stands on the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Hiltunen was born into a prosperous family in 1922. Her father invested in automobiles and her mother was a strong supporter of her only child. The family's prospects changed dramatically during the economic crash of 1929 and her father took to drink. He died in 1941 and it was her mother who brought her up. Hiltunen's artistic ambitions were empowered at the Finnish Art Academy where she won the prize for sculpture twice.

She married in 1944 and had children.[1] She and her sometimes violent husband had a difficult relationship. She always used her birth name. Their marriage lasted 50 years until Otso Pietinen's death although they were not always together.

Hiltunen is most famous for the Sibelius Monument which was constructed in 1967. The sculpture won a competition organised by the Sibelius Society following the composer's death in 1957. It is one of the most popular tourist sights in Helsinki.

Although her abstract sculpture of pipes is now well regarded as an important Finnish landmark, its initial reception was controversial. The objection centred on the abstract design; and although the design looked like stylised organ pipes, it was known that the composer had created little music for organs. To address her critics' concern, she was required to add Sibelius's face beside the main sculpture. A sculpture by Hiltunen resembling a smaller Sibelius Monument stands in the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Hiltunen was awarded the Finland Prize in 2000. Her husband, Otso Pietinen, died in 1993, and Hiltunen died in 2003.