William Lamb Studio

Address: 24 Market Street, Montrose DD10 8NB
Contact: Montrose Museum, Telephone 01674 673232

William Lamb was a man who gave all to his art. Worldly success and the politics of art interested him not at all. He may be revealed now as one of the few original minds in Scottish art of this century.

The building was William Lamb A.R.S.A.’s studio from 1934 to 1951 and is retained much as it was on his death. It was given to the town on the death of the sculptor, at his specific request, and was opened by the Montrose Town Council as a memorial to Lamb in 1955. The studio then underwent a complete renovation in 1978 by Angus District council.

The artists sculpture, prints and drawings are displayed in the studio. Also featured are his workroom and tools and his living room with self-styled furniture.

What are the highlights of the collection

In 1932 Lamb was commissioned by the Duchess of York, a native of Angus, to model portrait heads of her daughters, the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Impressed by his skill, the Duchess also commissioned Lamb to produce a portrait of herself. These works are on display in the William Lamb Studio.

William Lamb's sculpture around Montrose

1. Le Paresseux (The Lazy One) - located outside Montrose Museum
2. The Whisper - original can be found at the Studio, copy sculpted by David Annand is outside Montrose Library.
3. Bill The Smith - high street
4. The Minesweeper - Montrose beachfront
5. The Seafarer - Harbour garden
6. Ferryden Fisherwomen - William Lamb studio

Opening Times

Situated in one of Montrose’s quaint closes off the High Street. Disabled access to ground floor. Monday to Sunday 14.00 - 17.00 July, August and until mid September, and at other times by arrangement with the curator of Montrose Museum. See Angus Council Fine Art Collection for more information of the artworks and display programme of Angus Council.

No entrance charges.

About William Lamb

William Lamb was born in a small cottage in Mill Street, Montrose on the 1st June 1893. At the age of thirteen, he was apprenticed to his older brother James as a stone mason and monumental sculptor. During his apprenticeship, Lamb attended continuation classes at Montrose Academy and was encouraged by his art teacher, Lena Gaudie.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Lamb enlisted with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and fought in Belgium and France. He was wounded twice and eventually invalided out of the army with extensive damage to his right hand. Undeterred by this trauma, Lamb attended Edinburgh College of Art where he taught himself to draw, paint and sculpt with his left hand.

Lamb stayed for only two years in Edinburgh then left for France, finding the discipline of academia frustrating. He left Paris to embark on a cycle tour of France and Italy

The Scottish Renaissance

In 1924 Lamb returned to his native Montrose to set up his first studio above the shop of George Cathro, a painter and decorator in Bridge Street. Through Cathro, Lamb became involved with a group of young artists and literati who believed in the idea of a Scottish Renaissance in life and the arts. This group included the Angus poet Violet Jacob, the painter Edward Baird, C M Grieve (Hugh McDiarmid), then a reporter with the Montrose Review and George Fairweather, an architect. In this stimulating atmosphere, Lamb experienced a burst of creativity producing hundreds of etchings, drawings and sculpture. In 1925, Lamb had works accepted in three prestigious exhibitions: The Royal Scottish Academy, The Royal Academy, London, and the Paris Salon.

The Royal Sculptures

The Lamb Studio

When Lamb returned from London, he had his friend, George Fairweather, draw up plans for the studio in Market Street, financing the project with the money from his Royal commissions and doing much of the internal work in the studio himself.

Throughout the next thirty-four years, the studio would be the centre of Lamb’s life, the place where he would put together the vast range of etchings, drawings, watercolours and sculptures in clay, plaster, wood, stone and bronze.

William Lamb died in 1951 and it was his wish that the studio should be left as his memorial gift. On William Lamb’s death in 1951, following his deathbed wishes, Miss Caroline Lamb, his sister passed the studio and its contents to Montrose Town Council. The building was laid out as a permanent exhibition of William Lamb’s work and opened in 1955 as a memorial to him, one of Scotland’s greatest sculptors. The Studio is open to the public in the summer months and at other times by arrangement with the curator of Montrose Museum