Maurice Lambert RA
Born 25 June 1901
Died 17 August 1964
Active: 1918 - 1964
Country of birth and death: Great Britain
Sculptor
Born in Paris, France. He was the son of the painter George Washington Lambert (1873-1930) and the older brother of the composer and conductor, Constant Lambert (1905-51). Between 1918-23, Maurice was apprenticed to the sculptor Francis Derwent Wood and while working as his assistant helped complete the Machine Gun Corps Memorial at Hyde Park Corner. From 1919 to 1924 Lambert attended life classes at Chelsea School of Art.
In 1925, Lambert began exhibiting at the Goupil Galleries and this was followed by his first one-person show at the Claridge Gallery in 1927. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Lambert enjoyed critical, if not equal financial success and was a member of the 7 & 5 Society and London Group. As the 1930s progressed, his success developed along more conventional channels through public, private and portrait commissions. Amongst these were designing a fifty-foot frieze for the 'Queen Mary'; a bronze, entitled 'Oceanides', for the first-class foyer of the liner 'Queen Elizabeth'; a forty-foot high figure representing the ‘Spirit of Britain’ for the New York World Fair in 1939; and the twenty-foot high 'Modern Mercury' for the centennial exhibition in Wellington, New Zealand.
Lambert's other public sculptures and smaller commissions included: an equestrian statue of George V for Adelaide, South Australia; a statue of Viscount Nuffield for Guy's Hospital; the Symbol of Communication for the Time-Life building, London; the Duke of Edinburgh's trophy for shooting and running (a drinking cup in silver and gold); a fountain for Basildon, Essex, and another for the presidential palace, Baghdad (these last were his final works). His sitters for portraits were wide-ranging: William Walton, Dame Edith Sitwell, J. B. Priestley, Adrian Stokes, the maharani of Cooch Behar, Frank Herbert, Sir Gerald Kelly, Sir Henry Rushbury, Lord Devlin, and his brother Constant. Several of these portaits are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. Lambert also has works in Manchester Art Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery, Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal College of Music, the National Galleries of Ireland, the University of Texas, and various collections in Australia.
From 1938 Lambert exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and was elected an associate member in 1941. Between 1950 to 1958 Lambert was master of the Royal Academy sculpture school, and was elected Royal Academician in 1952. He died of cancer of the colon in 1964.
Wealth at death: £44,443 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 2 November 1964
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Head of Diana
1938
Locations
Address 1A King Street St. Jame's Square London England | View on map
1938 (Presumed)
'c/o Reid and Lefèvre' [Royal Academy Nominations for Associateship, c.1939-1969, p.105].
Studio located at 1 Logan Studios Logan Place London England | View on map
1932 (Circa) - 1955 (Circa)
At number 1A
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1932 - 1937
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 3 times: 1932 (1 work), 1935 (1 work) and 1937 (1 work).
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, 1861-1951
1934 - 1962
Exhibited 6 times (an average of 2 works per show)
Exhibited at Exhibition of Paintings by the Lady Helena Gleichen and Sculpture by O'Connor Barrett, Maurice Lambert, Mrs R. M. Milward and J. R. Skeaping (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), 1936
28 March 1936 - 18 April 1936
Exhibited at Palace of Arts Empire Exhibition Scotland, 1938
1938
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1938 - 1964
Exhibited 21 times (plus work shown posthumously in 1965).
Selection committee member of Chantrey Bequest (Chantrey Fund; Royal Academy of Arts), 1875-1948
1945 - 1952
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1945, 1946, 1951 and 1952 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1945', 1946, p. 17).
Selection committee member of The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The One Hundred and Seventy-Seventh (Summer Exhibition), 1945
10 April 1945 - 21 April 1945
Served on the Selection Committee, and was responsible for the arrangement of sculpture. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1945' (1946), p. 22.
Selection committee member of The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The One Hundred and Eighty-First (Summer Exhibition), 1949.
29 March 1949 - 9 April 1949
Served on the Selection Committee, and was responsible for the arrangement sculpture. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1949' (1950), p. 29.
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
29 March 1938 - 1947
Resigned in 1947.
Associated with Reid and Lefèvre
1938 (Presumed)
Gives gallery as his address in 1938.
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
25 April 1941 - 24 April 1952
Elected RA in 1952.
Prior to elecction, seems to have withdrawn from the list of nominees at some point, but no date given [Royal Academy of Arts Nomination Book, 1927-1938, p.226]. Renominated in 1938 [Royal Academy of Arts Nomination Book, 1927-1938, p.248].
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
24 April 1952 - 17 August 1964
Died in 1964.
Member of council Royal Academy of Arts
1951
One of two Associate Members serving on the Council from 1951. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1950', (1951), p. 36.
Teacher of modeling at Royal Academy Schools
25 July 1950 - 1958
Listed as 'Master of the School of Sculpture'. See Popp and Valentine, 'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership', (1996), p. 71. See also Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1950', (1951), p. 19.
Visitor at Royal Academy Schools
1949 - 1950
Listed as a visitor to the Sculpture School. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1949', (1950), p. 39.
Personal and Professional Connections
Apprenticed to Francis Derwent Wood
1918 - 1923
Whilst working for Wood, Lambert assisted in making the Machine Gun Corps memorial.
Nominated by Alfred Turner
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Nominated by William McMillan
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Nominated by William Reid Dick
11 February 1936 - 29 April 1938
Two nominations for Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA], in 1936 and 1938.
Nominated by Gilbert Ledward
11 February 1936 - 29 April 1928
Two nominations for Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA], in 1936 and 1938.
Nominated by Charles Thomas Wheeler
11 February 1936 - 29 April 1938
Two nominations for Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA], in 1936 and 1938.
Nominated by Henry George Rushbury
11 February 1936 - 29 April 1938
Two nominations for Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA], in 1936 and 1938.
Nominated by Francis Dodd
January 1939
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Nominated by Arnold Mason
January 1939
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Nominated by Edward Brantwood Maufe
January 1939
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Nominated by Alfred Thomson
January 1939
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Nominator of David McFall
27 April 1945 - 27 April 1954
Two nominations for Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA], in 1945 and 1954.
Nominator of Eric Clare Telford Schilsky
21 April 1950
For Associate of the Royal Academy [ARA].
Sources
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Hans Fletcher, ‘Lambert, Maurice Prosper (1901–1964)’, rev. Vanessa Nicolson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34385, accessed 22 July 2009]
Palace of Arts
Empire Exhibition
Scotland
1938
The Fine Art Section of the Empire Exhibition
1938
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1927-1938
1938
p.226, p.248.
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, c.1939-c.1961
1961 (Circa)
p.105, p.181, p.222.
Citing this record
'Maurice Lambert RA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1217329333, accessed 22 Sep 2023]
