George Lambourn

George Lambourn (1900-1977)

was a well-known painter of landscapes, figure subjects and still lifes. He was born at Rotherhithe in London and served in World War 1 in the Royal Naval Air Service. After the war he worked in Bruges in Belgium and then studied art in the period 1921-26 firstly at Goldsmiths’ College in London and then at the Royal Academy Schools. He also spent time studying in Paris. After living in Sussex, and then in Norfolk, he settled in Cornwall in 1938 having spent time in Mousehole in 1936. His first solo show was held in 1938 at the Matthiesen Gallery in London, which was directed by Francis Matthiesen who had fled Nazi Germany in the years leading up to World War II. That exhibition included his painting ‘Portrait of a Communist’, now held in the collection of the Tate. During World War II he worked with the British Volunteer Ambulance Corps and later decorated canteens and other army rest centres in North Africa, Italy and Austria. Some of his wartime paintings were acquired by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee. After the war he returned to Mousehole where he ran the Merlin Theatre. A solo show of his paintings was held at Plymouth City Art Gallery in 1950 and his final show held in his lifetime was at Newlyn Art Gallery in 1976. A memorial exhibition was held in Exeter in 1991. The artist’s work is held in a number of public collections, including Imperial War Museum, Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery, New County Hall at Truro, the University of Bath, and the Tate.

Current Works

George Lambourn – Still Life