Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 21, The Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries

Male and female nude figures

Statuette
ca. 1930 - ca. 1932 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This small cast bronze of a male and female nude was made by Maurice Lambert around 1930-32. The date of the group is suggested by its inclusion in a photograph of Lambert's studio in Logan Place taken around 1932. In 1927 a contemporary commentator, P. G. Konody, described Lambert as having 'thrown himself heart and soul into the Modern Movement'. This is evident in this small group, in which he has distilled the figures until articulations of limbs, mass and voids. As a commentator wrote in <i>The Studio</i> in 1932, ‘the forms which he produces have one great quality, which is only too often lacking in the work of many sculptors, that of poise or balance’.

The son of a painter, George Washington Lambert, Maurice Lambert (1902-1964) trained in London from 191 to 1923 in the studio of the Royal Academician Francis Derwent Wood (1871-1926). In 1927 a contemporary commentator, P. G. Konody, described Lambert as having 'thrown himself heart and soul into the Modern Movement'. He worked in a wide range of materials, often in combination, including brass, marble, alabaster, lead and aluminium, and executed ideal works as well as portrait busts.

Lambert's first major show was in June 1927 at the Claridge Gallery, London. The 1930s were a busy time for him. Together with Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, in 1930 he joined Joined Skeaping at the London Group, exhibiting at their annual exhibition until 1934. Also in 1930, he joined the National Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and Potters, with whom he exhibited regularly until 1938. In 1932 and 1934, he had major one-man shows at the Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery. He was Master of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools between 1950 and 1958, and was a prolific exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1938 to 1964. An exhibition of his work was held at the Belgrave Gallery, London, in 1988. A marble sculpture by Lambert entitled Man with a bird , formerly in the Museum's collection, was transferred to London's Tate Gallery in 1982.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMale and female nude figures (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze on a red marble base
Brief description
Statue, bronze on red marble base, of male and female nude figures, by Maurice Lambert, British, ca. 1930-1932
Dimensions
  • Height: 9.8cm
  • Weight: 4.3kg
Gallery label
  • In 1927, the art critic P.G. Konody wrote that Lambert had ‘thrown himself heart and soul into the Modern Movement’. This commitment is reflected in the way Lambert reduced the figures to the essence of their poses, distilling them into articulations of limbs, mass and voids. Despite the simplification of forms, the intimate relationship is clear in the perfect balance of the kneeling and reclining duo.(May 2021 -)
Object history
Initially on loan from Sir Leigh Ashton to the Department of Regional Services (Circulation Department) from 5 January 1953. Transferred to the Sculpture Department in 1981. As a redundant loan the present piece was formally accessioned by the Sculpture Department in 2000.
Subject depicted
Summary
This small cast bronze of a male and female nude was made by Maurice Lambert around 1930-32. The date of the group is suggested by its inclusion in a photograph of Lambert's studio in Logan Place taken around 1932. In 1927 a contemporary commentator, P. G. Konody, described Lambert as having 'thrown himself heart and soul into the Modern Movement'. This is evident in this small group, in which he has distilled the figures until articulations of limbs, mass and voids. As a commentator wrote in <i>The Studio</i> in 1932, ‘the forms which he produces have one great quality, which is only too often lacking in the work of many sculptors, that of poise or balance’.

The son of a painter, George Washington Lambert, Maurice Lambert (1902-1964) trained in London from 191 to 1923 in the studio of the Royal Academician Francis Derwent Wood (1871-1926). In 1927 a contemporary commentator, P. G. Konody, described Lambert as having 'thrown himself heart and soul into the Modern Movement'. He worked in a wide range of materials, often in combination, including brass, marble, alabaster, lead and aluminium, and executed ideal works as well as portrait busts.

Lambert's first major show was in June 1927 at the Claridge Gallery, London. The 1930s were a busy time for him. Together with Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, in 1930 he joined Joined Skeaping at the London Group, exhibiting at their annual exhibition until 1934. Also in 1930, he joined the National Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and Potters, with whom he exhibited regularly until 1938. In 1932 and 1934, he had major one-man shows at the Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery. He was Master of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools between 1950 and 1958, and was a prolific exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1938 to 1964. An exhibition of his work was held at the Belgrave Gallery, London, in 1988. A marble sculpture by Lambert entitled Man with a bird , formerly in the Museum's collection, was transferred to London's Tate Gallery in 1982.
Bibliographic references
  • Bilbey, Diane with Trusted, Marjorie, British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2002, p. 459, cat. no. 749
  • Nicolson, Vanessa, The Sculpture of Maurice Lambert, Much Hadham / Aldershot, 2002, cat. no. 73, p. 104, figs. 23+24. on p. 61
  • P.G. Konody, 'The Art of Maurice Lambert', Artwork, September-November 1927, pp. 190-195
  • 'New Sculptures by Maurice Lambert', The Studio, no. 471, June 1932, pp.333-36.
Collection
Accession number
A.32-2000

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Record createdNovember 29, 2000
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