Issued: 5 February 2018

Ravishing reappraisal of artist Henry Lamb to open at The Salisbury Museum in May 2018

A ravishing reappraisal of the work of artist Henry Lamb is scheduled to open at The Salisbury Museum in 2018. ‘Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows’ will open on 26 May and run until 30 September.

This major new exhibition is co-curated by Harry Moore-Gwyn, an independent curator, dealer and writer on modern British art, in partnership with Poole Museums. Poole Museum will mount a similar Henry Lamb exhibition in 2019 and is curating an exhibition about in 2018, which will come to Salisbury in 2019.

Henry Lamb as one of the leading British figurative painters of the first part of the twentieth century. A close associate of Augustus John, patron of and friends with members of the Bloomsbury Group he was also a founder member of the in 1911. He was a very accomplished musician and trained as a doctor, friends describing him as a well-read, erudite conversationalist.

Lamb’s unusual portraits played an important role in his career as a painter, but his townscapes and landscapes as well as his early subject pictures of Ireland and Brittany and his work in both World Wars reveal him to be a painter of considerable range and talent. He became a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery (1942) and the Gallery (1944). He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1940 and a full Academician in 1949.

Many of the works on show will come from the Artist’s Estate, but the museum will also be borrowing key works from museums and galleries across the country, to reflect the full sweep of Henry Lamb’s oeuvre.

Adrian Green, Director of Salisbury Museum said ‘Early 20th century artists such as Augustus John and Stanley Spencer achieved huge fame and success that still resonates today, but Henry Lamb who worked alongside them is little known. This major exhibition seeks to shine a new light on this talented artist who had a significant influence on his contemporaries.’

This exhibition is the first major retrospective of Henry Lamb’s work since an exhibition at the Manchester City Art Galleries in1984. Time then for him to emerge from the shadows…

Image:

Self-portrait Sketch by Henry Lamb Pencil on paper Private Collection

Additional information:

The exhibition represents a partnership between The Salisbury Museum and Poole Museum under the umbrella of the Wessex Museums Partnership, supported by Arts Council England, and is co-curated by Harry Moore-Gwyn, an independent curator, dealer and writer on modern British art, whose previous shows have included Kenneth Rowntree (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden), Laurie Lee (Royal Geographical Society) and Walter Bonner Gash (Alfred East Gallery, Kettering).

Exhibition:

Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows 26 May – 30 September 2018 Main Exhibition Galleries

No booking required Normal admission charges apply £8 Adults, £4 Children

Museum opening hours: Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm Sundays (from 27 May – 30 September) 12 midday – 5pm

The Salisbury Museum The Kings House 65 The Close Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 2EN UK www.salisburymuseum.org.uk

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Press Contact: Louise Tunnard [email protected] 01722 820541