| Description | Letters to Henry Lamb from Stanley and Gilbert Spencer, and from Augustus John. Also includes book 'Contemporary British Artists' by Henry Lamb, published in 1924, currently out of print.
Henry Lamb and Stanley Spencer became life long friends after meeting in 1913. Lamb would often invite Spencer to browse his library whenever he was in Hampstead. They shared the same friends in the Carline family, the same experiences as Medical Officers in the First World War, similar subject matter in their work, and a love of literature and music (Lamb was an accomplished pianist). During the war, Lamb was gassed and subsequently suffered from chronic insomnia. He began to spend less time in Hampstead, making regular trips to the country, particularly to Dover. Spencer joined him on his travels and they often worked side by side. The collection contains correspondence to Lamb from Spencer and from Lamb's friend and teacher, Augustus John. The letters discuss both their own work, the work of the Masters, relationships and life in general. |
| Administrative History | Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1883, the Lamb family moved to Manchester in 1896, where Henry's father taught mathematics. Henry studied medicine at Manchester University 1901-1904, however, following a trip to Italy with his father in 1904, he decided to study art. After election as a student for 1904-1905 at MAFA, he moved to London and enrolled at Chelsea Art School, run by Augustus John and William Orpen. Accompanying the John family to Paris in 1907, he attended L'âEcole de la Palette under J.E. Blanche, 1907-1908.¬Prior to the First World War he became involved with Euphemia (Nina Forrest), whom he married, Dorelia John, Lady Ottoline Morrell and was introduced to Lytton Strachey in 1908. He worked in Brittany and Ireland and exhibited with the AAA (Allied Artists' Association), Camden Town Group and NEAC. During the war he served as a Medical Officer and as an official war artist abroad, he was awarded the Military Cross. Lamb remained in close contact with friend Stanley Spencer, after meeting in 1913, and produced several important war pictures as the result of local and national commissions between 1919 and 1923. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Alpine Gallery and in 1928 began a long association with the Leicester Galleries.¬Resident at Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire from 1928, he painted his friend Evelyn War in 1930, and was again commissioned as Official War Artist in Second World War, concentrating on portraits of servicemen. He became a member of the RA in 1949, and died in 1960. |
| Custodial History | Loaned to the Archive for filming by Lady Pansy Lamb. |