The stone sculpture ‘Airman’ was produced by Donald Gilbert in 1940 and sits high up on the Wallis House building, on the Great West Road, Brentford. We are grateful to Mr J. S. Mirwitch of the Twentieth Century Society for identifying the sculptor and to Carolyn Hammond Editor of The Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society for connecting us with his research.
At Bonhams auctioneers there was a lot for sale in 2004 for a bronze sculpture of "an 'Aviator' sculpture by Donald Gilbert (1900-1961), signed and dated S C 1939, with the appearance of a memorial plaque depicting the pilot looking skyward in front of a large 'Imperial' eagle 85.5 x 67cm (33¾ x 26½ins)." This bronze bears a striking resemblance to the Wallis House sculpture.
Donald Gilbert worked with his father, the sculptor Walter Gilbert, on several war memorials and you can see on this example of the Burnley War Memorial that the airman looks like the one on Wallis House. This was Donald Gilbert’s debut in stone sculpture in 1926.
It was difficult for us to get a close-up photo of this sculpture because it is high up on the top of the entrance of the Wallis Building, Great West Road, Brentford. But we drove along the M4 westwards and then eastwards taking photos from a moving car on the overhead section that passes in front of the building.
The building was built in 1937 for the Simmonds Aerocessories by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners a British architectural practice which was responsible for designing many Art Deco buildings in the 1920 - 30s.
There is a book about this company ‘Form and Fancy: Factories and Factory Buildings by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners’, by Joan S. Skinner (1999) and on page 208 it describes the building of the Wallis House building and reference to “ the sculpted figure of an airman beneath outstretched eagle wings.”
The Simmonds Aerocessories company was owned by Sir Oliver Edwin Simmonds, a British aviation pioneer and aircraft engineer and co-designer with R. J. Mitchell of the Superamarine seaplane which led to the Spitfire plane.
BOAC later took over the Aerocessories works in 1947 and then the Art Deco building on the Great West Road was taken over as the headquarters for the Beecham Group Ltd. in 1955.
The building has recently been developed into executive apartments by Barratt and has been renamed Wallis House and is one of the three remaining buildings along what was known as ‘the Golden Mile’ of factories along the Great West Road.
If anybody can get a closer shot of the sculpture for this article please let us know.
Donald Gilbert was a sculptor born in Burcot in Worcestershire and the son of the sculptor Walter Gilbert, and nephew of Albert Gilbert, both famous sculptors. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools winning silver and bronze medals. Also studied at the Royal College of Art and in Rome and Florence. He and was heavily influenced by the Art Deco movement.
In the 1920s - 30s he produced a series of small bronze animal busts.
In 1934 Denby Pottery attracted the artist and sculptor Donald Gilbert, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, who produced ceramic designs of animal sculptures for Denby Tableware.
Donald Gilbert created works for Ashtead Potters Ltd and created some Jungle Book characters.
In the 1930s he sculpted a number of bronze busts.
Here are some stone architectural sculptures Gilbert did for the Bank of England, which were recently sold by Westland in 2009.
Some of his other works include:
A catalogue was compiled of Donald Gilbert’s works with his father Walter Gilbert.
See also our article: The search for the ‘Airman’ sculptor
