George Washington Thomas LambertARA (13 September 1873 – 29 May 1930) was an Australian artist, known principally for portrait painting and as a war artist during the First World War.
Early life
Lambert was born in St Petersburg, Russia, the posthumous son of George Washington Lambert (1833– 25 July 1873, in London) of Baltimore, Maryland. The younger Lambert's mother was Annie Matilda, née Firth, an Englishwoman. Mother and son moved to Württemberg, Germany, to be with Lambert's maternal grandfather. Lambert attended Kingston College, Yeovil, Somerset. Lambert, his mother, and sister, moved to Australia, arriving in Sydney aboard the Bengal on 20 January 1887.[1]
Career
George Washington Lambert - Self-portrait
Lambert began exhibiting his pictures at the Art Society and the Society of Artists, Sydney in 1894. Lambert began contributing pen-and-ink cartoons for The Bulletin in 1895 and began painting full-time in 1896.[1] Illustrations by Lambert formed part of the bush ballads of the Fair girls and gray horses (1898) and Hearts of gold (1903) anthologies of Scottish-Australian poet Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963).
In 1899 he won the Wynne Prize with Across the Blacksoil Plains. He studied at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney until 1900. Later, he won a travelling scholarship for 150 pounds from the government of New South Wales. He spent a year in Paris before moving to London where he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Lambert was awarded a silver medal at an international exhibition for his painting The Sonnet in Barcelona in 1911. He was most known during this time as a portrait artist.
Lambert became an official Australian war artist in 1917 during the First World War.[2] His painting Anzac, the landing 1915 of the landings on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, is the largest painting at the Australian War Memorial collection. Lambert, as an honorary captain, travelled to Gallipoli in 1919 to make sketches for the painting.[1] Another noted work was A sergeant of the Light Horse (1920), painted in London after his travels in Palestine.[3]
During the war years, George Lambert spent much time in London, where it is suggested he was romantically involved with fellow artist Thea Proctor.
In the second annual Archibald Prize in 1922, now Australia's most prestigious art prize for portraiture, Lambert's work was disqualified as he had not been a resident in Australia for twelve months.[4] He submitted a self-portrait for the third year, competing with William Macleod who entered with the subject of The Bulletin cartoonist 'Hop' Hopkins.[5] In 1927 he won the Archibald Prize with Mrs Annie Murdoch, a portrait of the mother of Keith Murdoch and grandmother of Rupert Murdoch.
Lambert married Amelia Beatrice 'Amy' Absell (1872–1963) in 1900. Their children were Maurice Lambert (1901–1964), a noted sculptor and associate of the Royal Academy, and Constant, the British composer and conductor, born in London in 1905. Kit Lambert (1935–1981), manager of the rock group The Who, was their grandchild.
Lambert died on 29 May 1930 at Cobbitty, near Camden, New South Wales, and is buried in the Anglican section of South Head Cemetery.[1]
Some of his family papers from 1874 to 1942 are held in the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.[7]
His life was dramatised in an episode of the radio series Famous Australians.
List of works
Table featuring paintings by George Washington Lambery
↑"Archibald Prize". The Daily Telegraph. No.13, 621. New South Wales, Australia. 6 January 1923. p.5. Retrieved 24 February 2019– via National Library of Australia.
↑"Gossip". Smith's Weekly. Vol.IV, no.46. New South Wales, Australia. 6 January 1923. p.17. Retrieved 24 February 2019– via National Library of Australia.
Grey, Anne (1996). George Lambert, 1873-1930: art and artifice. Roseville East: Craftsman House. ISBN9057040514.
Grey, Anne (1996). George Lambert (1873-1930) catalogue raisonne: paintings and sculpture, drawings in public collection. Perth: Bonaray Press in association with Sotheby's and the Australian War Memorial. ISBN0646301217.
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