Head of Dame Edith Sitwell

Originally commissioned by Edith's brother Osbert Sitwell circa 1926/27. Our version is of the same period and must have been commissioned at the same time. A version of this piece made in 1984 in aluminium is held in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG 5801).

Maurice Lambert

Maurice Lambert, born in Paris, was son of the Russian-born Australian painter George Washington Lambert. Initially, George Washington Lambert pursued a career as an illustrator and painter. However, in the last decade of his life, having achieved success in the London art, he turned to sculpture upon his return to Australia. While in London he was a member of the Chelsea arts club and was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy.

From 1919, Maurice Lambert attended evening classes at Chelsea Polytechnic. With a growing interest in sculpture, he apprenticed under Francis Derwent Wood, a distinguished British sculptor known for his architectural sculptures, and a friend of Lambert’s father from the Chelsea Arts Club. Lambert’s first sculptures were exhibited at Regent Street’s Goupil Gallery in the spring of 1925, where he primarily showcased bronze portraits. He later held his first solo exhibition at the Claridge Gallery in 1927, followed by his fourth and final one-man exhibition during his lifetime at Alex Reid & Lefevre in 1934.

As early as 1926, Lambert began adopting the image of birds in flight, which subsequently became a significant aspect of his artistic style. His piece Birds was submitted and accepted for the Venice biennale in 1926.

Lambert’s versatile range of materials for sculpture and carving was evident at his 1929, New Sculpture exhibition at Arthur Tooth and Sons. Here, he presented sculptors made from marble, alabaster, African hardwood, Portland stone and metal.

Renowned for his secretive nature regarding his artistic practice and influences, Lambert was also known for his perfectionism, often destroying sculptures that did not meet his standards. A prolific artist, Lambert was credited for inventing and exploring new approaches to sculpture at a time when it was being scrutinised.

Lambert was a member of acclaimed exhibiting groups such as the Seven and Five Society and the London Group. He also served as a Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1950-1958. In 1952 he was elected an RA and in the same year he produced a sculpture for the entrance to the Time & Life building at 1 Bruton Street in London.

Lambert’s eclecticism was both praised and criticised. Some viewed it as a lack of direction and emphasised the inconsistent quality of his work, leading to much of his work being marginalised or dismissed by his contemporaries. Furthermore, Lambert never received international acclaim due to his refusal conform to the avant-garde frame work due to his traditionalist views. His work was often seen as too eclectic to fit within the modernist canon of his contemporaries when modernism had stricter terms. However, his work has since been accepted as modern.

Like many modernists of his era, Lambert sought inspiration from various cultures, including Africa, India, Pre-Colombia, Greco-Roman, Romanesque, Byzantine and Renaissance. Maurice Lambert was never fond of the upper-class intellectual snobbishness and playfulness associated with the Sitwell and their milieu. Nevertheless, they were among the brightest and most bohemian figures of the time, offering opportunities for commissions. Through his connection in artistic social circles, Lambert sculpted Edith Sitwell in the 1920s. The portraits smooth surface, formalised characteristics and wedge like base share stylistic conventions with the pre-war Art Deco movement of the period.

Much of Lamberts early work is also influenced by Style Modene, for its use of clean lines and polished materials. One of Lambert’s sculptures of Edith Sitwell, circa 1984 now at the National Portrait Gallery, is made of Aluminium instead of bronze but otherwise identical, captured popular press at the time, commissioned by her brother Osbert. Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell were champions of modernism and publicly challenging all that they saw as dull in British society. The majority of newspapers singled out this sculpture for its robotic like appearance and futuristic appearance.

We are grateful to Vanessa Nicholson in helping with this.

Literature
THE SCULPTURE OF MAURICE LAMBERT

Museums
National Portrait Gallery
Manchester City Art Collection
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Leeds City Art Gallery
Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg
Victoria and Albert Museum, London