John Stansfeld People's Sculptor

Annotation

Tracing the life and work the life of Scottish sculptor William Lamb (1893 - 1951) this is a story of indomitable will and irrepressible creativity. The son of an alcoholic father and a survivor of the 'lost generation' who came of age in 1914, it was with courage and determination that Lamb overcame the obstacles life put in his path. Traumatised in the trenches at Passchendaele during the First World War and blighted by depression, Lamb was also severely wounded in his right hand. With characteristic resolve he retrained with his left hand - at Edinburgh College of Art and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Despite the uncertainty of an art market rocked by world war, Lamb established his reputation in Montrose with sculptures of the townspeople and fishermen of east Scotland. He produced prints, water colours and drawings to help fund his sculpture. Occasionally he undertook commissions and in 1932 he completed portrait bronzes of the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. The Second World War dried up his supplies of materials, so he turned to wood carving and, when death finally put an end to his creativity, he left a large collection of his artwork as a legacy to the Scottish people.