Aubrey Eric Stacy Aumonier (5 May 1899 – 1974), was a British sculptor.

Life

Aumonier was born in Northwood,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

(now northwest London); his family name is

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

(French Protestant). Eric's grandfather, William, founded the Aumonier Studios in 1876, an architectural sculpture firm in London, initially located at New Inn Yard off

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road t ...

, then at 84 Charlotte Street. His son, also called William, continued the firm into the 1930s. William (junior) studied at the West London School of Art. He exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art in 1899–1900 and was responsible for the architectural decorations of the Victoria Law Courts, Birmingham, in the late 1880s. Two of his sons, Whitworth and Eric himself, were sculptors. Eric studied at the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. By 1931, Eric and Whitworth were running the studio as W. Aumonier & Sons, with Eric responsible for artistic output. In 1929, Aumonier was commissioned with five othersThe others sculptors of winds were:

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cr ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Mo ...

Allan G. Wyon Allan Gairdner Wyon FRBS RMS (1882 – 26 February 1962) was a British die-engraver and sculptor and, in later life, vicar in Newlyn, Cornwall. Many of his works are memorials with a number located in British cathedrals. Other, more decorative, ...

, A. H. Gerard and Samuel Rabinovitch.

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produce ...

was also commissioned to carve sculptures of Day and Night. to carve one of a set of relief sculptures of the four winds for

55 Broadway 55 Broadway is a Grade I listed building close to St James's Park in London. Upon completion, it was the tallest office block in the city. In 1931 the building earned architect Charles Holden the RIBA London Architecture Medal. In 2020, it was ...

, the new

Underground Electric Railways Company of London The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an und ...

headquarters in St. James's, London, designed by

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

. Aumonier carved the South Wind on the west side of the North wing (not visible from ground level). In 1932, Aumonier designed two Art Deco relief sculptures in the foyer of the Daily Express Building in London. He also designed a young horse, in white porcelain, for

Royal Worcester Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...

. Another commission for

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

, ''The Archer'' at

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It ha ...

Underground station, is his most iconic work, the only three-dimensional statue on the system. The contract for the work was placed on 8 June 1939, with an estimated cost of £245. The architect for the station was once again Charles Holden. The sculpture was unveiled on 22 July 1940. ''Pennyfare'', London Transport's staff journal, explained the roots of the image in July 1940: :''"the figure of an ancient hunter of wild game is placed high up on the new East Finchley station. It is more than a decorative device – it is powerful symbolism".'' Finchley was on the edge of the royal forest of

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

, which was hunted by both court and commoner. Drivers on the Northern line still bear a tie pin based on the sculpture. ''The Archer'' is nearly twice natural size and was made of six

hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distingu ...

of beech timber round a steel armature and then covered with 5 hundredweight of sheet lead. The timber had come from

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. The gold for the gilded features was mined in South Africa and the bow was English ash, bent by steam and coated with copper and gilt. The sculpture was probably constructed in three main sections, which were re-assembled on site. Amongst other work for London Underground, Aumonier also made two stone reliefs over two of the entrances to the canteen at London Underground's Acton Works – one of a pie, knife and fork. A sculpture of Dick Whittington was planned for

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

, but a reduction in the scope of the new station buildings caused by World War II meant this was never commissioned. Aumonier worked on the new City Hall in Norwich with Alfred Hardiman and

James Woodford James Arthur Woodford (1893–1976) was an English sculptor. His works include sets of bronze doors for the headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Norwich City Hall; the Queen's Beasts, originally made for the Coronation i ...

. The sculptor also did some set work in the cinema. In 1946 he worked on the

Powell and Pressburger The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)—together often known as The Archers, the name of their production company—made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

film '' A Matter of Life and Death'' at

Denham Film Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...

. On the giant moving stairway featured in the film, Aumonier created the statues of various famous people. By coincidence, Powell and Pressburger's production company was called

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural sett ...

. In later years, Aumonier and his wife moved to Ashburton, New Zealand, where he died in 1974.

References

*McGill, Ann. ''The Aumoniers, Craftsmen and Artists'' New York : Highland Books.

External links

The Archer
as recorded on the Big Art Map.
London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** ** **
Proposed station building at Highgate showing proposed Dick Whittington statue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aumonier, Eric 1899 births 1974 deaths British architectural sculptors People associated with transport in London People from Northwood, London People from Ashburton, New Zealand 20th-century British sculptors British male sculptors 20th-century British male artists