Frank Lambert (curator)

Frank Lambert, CBE FBA (1884 – 13 January 1973) was a museum and art gallery curator. After appointments in London, Stoke-on-Trent and Leeds he was director of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool for twenty years, from 1932.

Life and career

Lambert was born in London and educated at St Olave's Grammar School and Christ's College, Cambridge.^[1] He studied Greek and Roman art under Sir Charles Walton, Slade Professor of Fine Art.^[2]

His first professional appointment (1908–1924) was assistant curator to the

Leeds City Art Gallery.^[3] During his time at Leeds 166 works were added to the collection, and Lambert edited and published an illustrated catalogue of the permanent collection.^[2]

In 1931 Lambert was appointed director of the

Royal Academy in London.^[1] During the Second World War, Lambert arranged for the gallery to host lunchtime concerts on the lines pioneered by Myra Hess at the National Gallery in London.^[1]

At the Walker, Lambert instituted a vigorous campaign of acquisitions. Until his time the gallery had owned few pre-Victorian paintings, and under him it acquired works by Gainsborough, Stubbs, Allan Ramsay and Zoffany, as well as works by twentieth-century artists including Sickert, Augustus John, Harold Gilman and Wilson Steer.^[4]

Lambert was well known as a lecturer, first at

Liverpool University. He defended modern art against attacks by anti-modernists, maintaining, "There is no norm in contemporary art because there is no norm in the art and the science of living."^[5]

Lambert served as president of the Museums Association from 1946 to 1948, in which year he was appointed CBE.[3] He retired in 1952 and died at the age of 88.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Mr Frank Lambert", The Times, 16 January 1973, p. 14
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Walker Art Gallery's New Director", The Manchester Guardian, 3 October 1931, p. 10
^ ^a ^b ^c Lambert, Frank, Who's Who & Who Was Who, Oxford University Press 2018, retrieved 5 February 2018. (subscription required)
^ Stevens, Timothy. "Mr Frank Lambert", The Times, 18 January 1973, p. 19
^ "Art Reflects the Times", The Manchester Guardian, 9 July 1947, p. 3

[times-1] "Mr Frank Lambert", The Times, 16 January 1973, p. 14

[mg-2] "The Walker Art Gallery's New Director", The Manchester Guardian, 3 October 1931, p. 10

[who-3] Lambert, Frank, Who's Who & Who Was Who, Oxford University Press 2018, retrieved 5 February 2018. (subscription required)

[4] Stevens, Timothy. "Mr Frank Lambert", The Times, 18 January 1973, p. 19

[5] "Art Reflects the Times", The Manchester Guardian, 9 July 1947, p. 3

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