Life

Aumonier was born in Northwood, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 (now north-west London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

). his family name is Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 (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

Tottenham Court Road is a major road in central London, United Kingdom, running from St Giles Circus north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile...

, then at 84 Charlotte Street. His son, also called William, continued the firm into the 1930s. William (junior) studied at 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. By 1931, Eric and Whitworth were running the studio as W. Aumonier & Sons. Eric responsible for artistic output.

In 1929, Aumonier was commissioned with five others to carve one of a set of relief sculptures

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

 of the four winds for 55 Broadway

55 Broadway

55 Broadway is a notable building overlooking St. James's Park in London. It was designed by Charles Holden and built between 1927 and 1929, and in 1931 the building earned him the RIBA London Architecture Medal...

, the new Underground Electric Railways Company of London

Underground Electric Railways Company of London

The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , 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 underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...

 headquarters in St. James's

St. James's

St James's is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. It is bounded to the north by Piccadilly, to the west by Green Park, to the south by The Mall and St. James's Park and to the east by The Haymarket.-History:...

, London, designed by Charles Holden

Charles Holden

Charles Henry Holden, Litt. D., FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the...

. 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

Daily Express Building, London

The Daily Express Building is a Grade II* listed building located in Fleet Street in the City of London. It was built in 1932 by Sir Owen Williams to serve as the home of the Daily Express newspaper and is one of the most prominent examples of art-deco architecture in London.The exterior features...

 in London. He also designed a young horse, in white porcelain, for Royal Worcester

Royal Worcester

Royal Worcester is believed to be the oldest remaining English pottery brand still in existence today.-Overview:Royal Worcester is a British brand known for its history, provenance and classically English collections of porcelain...

.


Another commission for the London Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

, The Archer at East Finchley

East Finchley tube station

East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-History:...

 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, 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 6 hundredweight

Hundredweight

The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...

 of beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

 timber round a steel armature

Armature (sculpture)

In sculpture, an armature is a framework around which the sculpture is built. This framework provides structure and stability, especially when a plastic material such as wax or clay is being used as the medium...

 and then covered with 5 hundredweight of sheet lead. The timber had come from Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. The gold for the gilded features was mined in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and the bow was English ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

, 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

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

, 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 tube station

Highgate tube station is a London Underground station on Archway Road, Highgate, not far from Highgate Village in north London. It is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Archway and East Finchley, in Travelcard Zone 3....

, but a reduction in the scope of the new station buildings caused by World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 meant this was never commissioned.

Aumonier worked on the new City Hall in Norwich

City Hall, Norwich

Norwich City Hall is an Art Deco building completed in 1938 which houses the city hall for the city of Norwich, East Anglia, in Eastern England. It is one of the Norwich 12, a collection of twelve heritage buildings in Norwich deemed of particular historical and cultural importance.Norwich City...

 with Alfred Hardiman

Alfred Frank Hardiman

Alfred Frank Hardiman , sculptor, was born at 17 Orde Hall Street, London, the son of Alfred William Hardiman, silversmith, of Holborn, and his wife, Ada Myhill....

 and James Woodford

James Woodford

James Woodford was an English sculptor-Life:Woodford was born in Nottingham in 1893. His father was a lace designer. Woodford started studying at the Nottingham School of Art, but his studies were curtailed when he enlisted during the First World War. After the war, he continued his training at...

.

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

Powell and Pressburger

The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...

 film A Matter of Life and Death at Denham Film Studios

Denham Film Studios

Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952.The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood...

. 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.

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

External links

• The Archer as recorded on the Big Art Map.
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive

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• Lost Lines - Proposed station building at Highgate showing proposed Dick Whittington statue