Emile Auguste Ouchard "fils" Viola Bow

Émile Auguste Ouchard was born in Mirecourt in 1900. He started studying bowmaking at the age of 13 with his father, Émile François Ouchard. At the time Émile François worked out of the workshop of Eugene Cuniot-Hury. After 10 years, the father and son opened their own workshop. Auguste Ouchard’s work improved over the next decade and he started to distance himself from his father in terms of style and design. Eventually he moved to Paris to establish independently. Between 1938 and 1946 he worked in Paris, branding his work with his own label. In 1942 he won the Grand Prix at the 1942 International Paris Exhibition. At the coaxing of his associates, Ouchard moved to New York City in 1946. He worked at the shop of Lazare Rudié in New York until 1948. Then he was invited to work as an executive at the William Lewis & Son firm in Chicago. Later he moved back to New York, and then finally back to Paris where he spent the rest of his life. Ouchard’s training in the Lamy workshop stayed with him throughout his career. His time in America cemented his reputation internationally, and helped him accumulate a blend of techniques from America and France that improved demand for his work.