William Lamb (sculptor)
William Lamb | |
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![]() Self-portrait | |
Born | William Lamb 1 June 1893 Montrose, Angus |
Died | 12 January 1951 Stracathro, Angus | (aged 57)
Known for | Sculpture |
Movement | Realism, Scottish Renaissance |
Awards | Guthrie Award, 1929 |
William Lamb
Lamb completed his training in 1915 as a right-handed artist. A war wound incapacitated his right hand, so that after the war he had to retrain as a left-hander. His urge to create was in no way diminished and his preferred medium was sculpture.
Lamb's most productive period was from 1924 to 1933. As a result of an education on strictly traditional lines, he developed a style of modelling that was classically accurate, but which expressed the character and background of his subject.[1] Although he modelled Queen Elizabeth II as Princess Elizabeth aged six, in 1932,[2] he generally eschewed the rich, the famous and the heroic. Instead Lamb settled permanently in his native Montrose, Angus, Scotland, and sculpted the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, concentrating upon working class models, especially from the fishing community.[3]
Fiercely independent, Lamb despised the young modernists and pre-war baroque fashions alike. He became isolated and developed severe depression around 1935/36,[4] turning into something of a recluse. He never escaped poverty, never married and until the publication of a biography in 2013, his work was largely forgotten outside east central Scotland.
Biography
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Early life and training
William Lamb was born on 1 June 1893 in
In September 1922, Lamb journeyed to Paris where he briefly attended the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Lamb-Ferryden_Fisherwife.jpg/130px-Lamb-Ferryden_Fisherwife.jpg)
Artistic career
Lamb set up a studio in Montrose in 1924. He earned a livelihood initially by print making, almost all etchings,[9] and by drawing. Simultaneously he started to model whenever he had time or a commission. He gradually fell under the influence of Hugh MacDiarmid and the Scottish Renaissance literary movement which was centred in Montrose. This confirmed his resolve to make his work distinctly Scottish by modelling the ordinary men and women working in the community around him. In 1929 he won the Guthrie Award for the best work shown by a young Scottish artist at the Royal Scottish Academy's summer exhibition. The work was a bust entitled Ferryden Fisherwife.[10]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Lamb-Princess_Elizabeth.jpg/130px-Lamb-Princess_Elizabeth.jpg)
In 1931 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy (ARSA).
After 1930 the demand for prints declined and Lamb turn to water-colours for his bread and butter.[12] After his royal commissions, he built himself a new studio, but the collapse of a personal relationship triggered a mental breakdown and his artistic output suffered. As he recovered from his depression, Lamb found that the approach of war made it difficult, and later impossible, to procure materials for modelling.[13] He turned to wood carving and also went back to his craft, as a monumental mason, to earn his living.
From 1942 the artist's life became a battle between his urge to create and debilitating kidney disease. He would die of kidney failure, having worked up until two weeks before his death.
Works
Sculpture
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Lamb-Souwester.jpg/130px-Lamb-Souwester.jpg)
Lamb's first major work was The Cynic, a head modelled from an apprentice in 1924. It was exhibited at the Salon (Paris) in 1925 as Tȇte de Garcon.
The Young Fisherman was exhibited at the
With the approach of war, Lamb turned to wood carving. In this genre, the more noteworthy works are The Beardless Christ[14] (Five Figures set above the rood screen in the Episcopal Church of St. Mary, Newport-on-Tay), Wind frae the Baltic, Sou-Wester, The Shrew & Gale Force.
Altogether 109 of Lamb's works were shown at the RSA annual exhibition 1925–1951. These included 84 works of sculpture, 5 prints and 20 drawings.[15] A number of his works can be seen in the William Lamb Memorial Studio in Montrose, and elsewhere in the town.
Prints
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Lamb-Calm_Montrose.jpg/130px-Lamb-Calm_Montrose.jpg)
Between 1924 and 1929 Lamb produced more than one hundred prints for the market. They are almost all etchings. Many are derived from the sketches he made in France in 1922/23 and most of the rest are of Scottish origin. There is an almost complete collection of his known prints in the William Lamb Memorial Studio in Montrose. Around 1929 the fashion for etchings came to an end and Lamb turned to water colours.
Water-colours
Although William Lamb relied on his prints and water-colours for much of his livelihood, his marketing skills were non-existent. This meant that he was never able to turn his talent to much advantage, or to escape from poverty. In addition to poor marketing, the artist was possessive about his water-colours.
When he heard that a buyer was to visit, he would hide away his best works, in case the potential customer chose them.[16] Some critics have found the water-colours dull, but they are expressive of the Scottish east coast and they depict the working lives of those who live there.
Drawings
There are almost one thousand of Lamb's drawings in the William Lamb studio. It has been said that it is worth making the trip to Montrose to see these alone.[17] The artist's style was minimalist and he was fond of portraying effort, both in men and in horses. The collections of pencil sketches and more formal drawings cover much of his life. His sketches of World War I and his life in the trenches became lost when he was wounded in 1917.
Influences and legacy
Inspiration
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Lamb-Torso_II.jpg/130px-Lamb-Torso_II.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Lamb-Hugh_MacDiarmid.jpg/130px-Lamb-Hugh_MacDiarmid.jpg)
William Lamb was fiercely independent and on occasion declared that his work was not subject to the influence of others. Nevertheless, influence can be detected throughout his work and, in moments of reflection he acknowledged this.[18] Firstly Lamb was an inheritor of the Scottish Enlightenment and the strong classical tradition rooted at that time in the country's educational system. When he went to Rome and saw for the first time the Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture, he described them as old friends.[19] He admired their accuracy to life, their grace and simplicity.
The second major influence was the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Lamb-Old_John.jpg/130px-Lamb-Old_John.jpg)
When Lamb went to Paris he came under the influence of
When he returned to Scotland in 1924, Lamb came within the orbit of the Scottish Renaissance. This movement was largely inspired by Hugh MacDiarmid who lived at the time in Montrose near to the sculptor. The aim of this movement was to make the arts central to Scottish life.[21] The rebirth was to be rooted in the great European tradition, but should exemplify Scotland. This was to be achieved through portraying Scots working in their local community and by describing the life of ordinary people. The sculptor grew to accept this tenet and lived and worked for the rest of his life in Montrose.[22]
William Lamb was also a gifted draughtsman. He followed the teaching of Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran who had taught several of the French artists whom Lamb admired. The idea was to gaze at the subject for some time and commit it to visual memory. The drawing done afterwards would capture the essentials without extraneous detail. He respected Edmund Blampied, a skilled draughtsman, who was exhibiting in Paris while the Scot was there. He also liked the etchings of Charles Méryon and this artist's style influenced Lamb's prints.[23]
The final influence upon Lamb's art was World War II. Unable to buy artists' materials, he turned to wood carving. His sculptures in this medium are anonymous and often beaten by the wind. His figures had become cogs in the machine, lashed by the winds of war.
Lamb's Legacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Lamb-Bill_the_Smith.jpg/130px-Lamb-Bill_the_Smith.jpg)
With the exception of his commissions and in spite of his poverty, Lamb was reluctant to sell his work and especially anything that he thought was any good. This meant that he amassed a large and representative collection of his œuvre in his Montrose studio. When he died, he left the studio and its contents to the local authority. The present owners are
The collection has received little public attention outside east central Scotland and is virtually unknown to the wider world. Nonetheless it shows Lamb as a master, possibly the best sculptor that Scotland has produced. Apart from the sculpture, his drawings, water-colours and etchings are all remarkable. They achieve the aim of the Scottish Renaissance by illustrating the life and the countryside of the Scottish Lowlands realistically and in humble terms.
Notes
- ^ Obituary – RSA Annual Report 1951 p6.
- ^ Zealand, Gillian 1993 p33.
- ^ Stansfeld, John 2013 p73
- ^ WLC e.g. letter of 31 January 1936.
- ^ Montrose Review of 30 May 1968 p4.
- ^ Enlistment Book of Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.
- ^ a b Atkinson, Norman K. 1979 p2.
- ^ WLC 2 December 1923.
- ^ Stansfeld, John 2013 p61
- ^ Bell, Leonard J.A. 1950 p16.
- ^ Hartley, Keith 1989 p141.
- ^ Stansfeld, John 2013 p120
- ^ WLC e.g. letter of 18 December 1942 p2.
- ^ Roberts I 1978 p388.
- ^ Laperrière, Charles B. de 1991 p7.
- ^ WLC e.g. letters of 29 September 1929 and 10 February 1930.
- ^ Montrose Review 25 August 1955 p4 refers.
- ^ WLC e.g. letter of 6 February 1926 p1.
- ^ WLD – see entry for 13 October 1923.
- ^ Goldscheider, Ludwig 1939.
- ^ Bold, Alan 1988.
- ^ Bell, Leonard J.A. 1950 p19.
- ^ MMP e.g. letter to Jean Orkney Dec 1939.
WLC: William Lamb's correspondence WLD: William Lamb's diaries
References
- Atkinson, Norman K. (1979). "William Lamb – The Unknown Artist". Dundee City Library: Dundee's Own Christmas Annual.
- Bell, Leonard J.A. (October 1950). "The Art of William Lamb". The Scots Magazine. D.C. Thompson, Dundee. pp. 13–20.
- Bold, Alan (1988). MacDiarmid A Critical Biography. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-4585-4.
- Enlistment Book of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders – in the Regimental Museum at Fort George, Scotland.
- Goldscheider, Ludwig (1939) – Rodin – Phaidon Press.
- Hartley, Keith (1989) – Scottish Art since 1900 National Galleries of Scotland and Lund Humphries, London.
- Laperriere, Charles B. de (1991) The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibitors 1826–1990 – Calne: Hilmarton Manor.
- Montrose Museum Papers (MMP) – Montrose Museum have two files of uncatalogued papers on William Lamb.
- Montrose Review – local weekly newspaper for Montrose, Scotland. Available in Montrose Library.
- Roberts, I. (1978) – The Studio in Montrose published in The Scots Magazine July 1978.
- Royal Scottish Academy (1951) – Annual Report for 1951.
- Stansfeld, John (2013). The People's Sculptor. The Life and Art of William Lamb. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 978-1-78027-162-0.
- William Lamb's Correspondence (WLC) – there are more than 370 letters of William Lamb in the Simm Collection at Dunninald, *Montrose, Scotland DD10 9TD and more among the MMP.
- William Lamb's Diary (WLD) has been edited and printed, but not published, by Bernard Tuck. Copies can be seen in Montrose *Museum, Montrose Library and in the William Lamb Studio.
- Zealand, Gillian (1993) – The "Puir Crater" Who Sculpted Princesses – published in the Book of the Braemar Gathering 1993 pp 33–38.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Edward Baird, Angus Council
- Montrose Academy
- James Pittendrigh MacGillivray, Glasgow City of Sculpture, by Gary Nisbet
- William Lamb Studio