Born in Portadown, Co. Armagh, Charles Lamb initially studied life drawing at night at the Belfast School of Art before winning a scholarship to study full time at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin in 1917.
In 1921 Lamb visited Carraroe in Connemara for the first time. Charles Lamb, like Henry, Keating and MacGonigal had a deep attachment to the West of Ireland, especially the area around Carraroe where he settled in 1935 and ran a painting school during summer months. From the mid-
1930s he concentrated on depicting landscape, working rapidly on a warm-toned surface whilst trying to capture the changing mood and light of Connemara. His vision which is characteristically contemplative is characterised by broad brushwork and restrained impasto.
He also lived and worked in Brittany for a time during the 1920s, where the locals and way of life came to be the focus of his subject matter, as the people of Connemara did while he worked there. He exhibited in London, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles as well as regularly at the RUA and RHA where he became a member in 1930 and 1938 respectively. In 1947 a solo show was held at CEMA, Belfast, and a retrospective of his work was held in 1969 at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin. Significant works can be found in the National Gallery of Ireland, Hugh Lane Gallery and Ulster Museum.
Charles Lamb was the feature of an Adam's loan exhibition, 'Lamb in Connemara' (2012). Please click here to view the catalogue.
Lamb's work also feature in the following Adam's exhibitions:
'Ulster Artist's Exhibition' (2010). Please click here to view the catalogue.
'The French Connection' (2010). Please click here to view the catalogue.
'A Celebration of Irish Art and Modernism' (2011). Please click here to view the catalogue.
'Ireland: Her People and Landscape' (2012). Please click here to view the catalogue.
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