Francis Mortimer Lamb (1861-1936)
Stoughton's most famous Artist of the 19th and 20th Century
History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts 1622-1918. (New York, The S.J.
Clarke Publishing Co., 1918), 2:306-308.
F. MORTIMER LAMB
Among those whose names
have found place among the leading artists of
New England
and whose canvases are dear to the hearts of their possessors, more than
passing mention should be made of F. Mortimer Lamb, whose landscapes have been
exhibited and have won prizes in many of the leading cities of the country. Mr.
Lamb is a native son of
Massachusetts
, his birth having occurred in Middleboro on
the 5th of May, 1861
, his parents being Amasa A. and Ardelia A. (Monk) La". The father was a
native of
North Easton
,
Massachusetts
, while the mother's birth occurred in
Troy
,
New York
. Amasa A. Lamb was a carriage painter by trade and arrived in
Stoughton
in 1863. While his painting contributions were mostly to the mechanical art, he
gave more or less attention to the painting of pictures and scenery. He had the
distinction of putting upon the road probably the first moving picture show ever
displayed in this country. It was called a Diorama and was built and made
entirely by himself. He drew and painted all the figures, cutting them out with
a jack knife, and he constructed the mechanism in such a way that they were a
moving mass. He went upon the road with that show in 1861. After locating in
Stoughton
he was employed to some extent in shoe factories, but in 1869 he purchased a
shop and continued in the carriage painting business. His artistic nature,
however, found expression and he became well known as a scene painter and also
as a painter of various patriotic pictures, one of which, his
"Emancipation," attracted wide attention and is now in the possession
of the Stoughton Historical Society. His death occurred
in November, 1909, while his wife
passed away about a year before, in August, 19o8. Mrs. Lamb was also a painter
and decorator and did much work of a superior quality. She was also for twelve
or fourteen years at the head of the public schools of
Stoughton
.
F. Mortimer Lamb spent his
youthful days in
Stoughton
, where, he attended the public schools, reaching the third year in the high
school His parents recognized, however, that he would not become a scholar in
the sense of mastering the contents of books, for throughout his school days his
books were decorated with drawings and they decided to see what the art schools
would do for him. Accordingly when he was seventeen years of age he entered the
Massachusetts Normal Art School of Boston, which has produced some of the most
distinguished painters and sculptors not only of this country but of the world.
He spent five years as a student there and was graduated With the class of 1883.
He had been in the school only a brief period when he won leadership in his
classes. After two years in the
Normal
Art
School
he began teaching in the evening schools in
South Boston
,
Malden
,
Woburn
and
Brockton
and for twenty years has been principal of the
Evening
Drawing
School
in
Taunton
. Following his graduation from the
Normal
Art
School
he taught in the
School
of
Art
of the New England Conservatory of Music and he also entered the
Boston
Art Museum
, where he studied for three years. He afterward went to
Europe
and for two years was a student in Julien's Studio in
Paris
under Boulanger and Le Fevbre. Following his return to his native country he
opened a studio in
Brockton
,
Massachusetts
, and at the same time he continued his instruction in the Evening Drawing
School of Taunton, which has developed the powers of some of the eminent artists
of
America
, this being regarded as one of the best evening schools of the country. For
three years Mr. Lamb also conducted a studio on Beacon street in Boston, but
throughout the entire period he was making his home in Stoughton and at length
determined to establish his studio at home, which he did, doing all his work in
the city in which he has practically spent his entire life. He has a fine
residence at
No. 59 Grove street
, which was erected by his father in 1869. Mr. Lamb has won wide fame as an
animal and landscape artist and his canvases are seen in all parts of the
United States
, and a considerable number have been sent abroad. Today his pictures are sold
to a large extent in.
Philadelphia
. They have been on exhibit at the Chicago Exposition and at the Chicago Art
Institute, at the California Midwinter Exposition, the Detroit Museum of Fine
Arts, the New York Society of American Artists, the
Pennsylvania
Academy
of Fine Arts and the
Boston
Art Club. He was awarded the, gold medal at the Twentieth Century Exposition in
Boston
in 1900 and won the silver medal at the Panama Pacific Exposition in
San Francisco
in 1915.
On
the 23d of November, 1906
, Mr. Lamb was united in marriage to Miss Anna R. Farrell, a daughter of John
and Rosa (
Sheridan
) Farrell, and a relative of General Phil Sheridan. Her parents were natives of
Ireland
, the father born in
County
Longford
and the mother in
County
Cavan
, and they came to
America
in early life. Mr. Farrell was employed in the shoe factories of
Stoughton
for many years and finally removed to
Illinois
, settling near
Chicago
, where he carried on agricultural pursuits for a time. He then returned to
Massachusetts
and established a grocery store at
Canton
,
Norfolk
county.
Later he again took up his abode
in
Stoughton
, where he devoted his attention to crimping boots and to farming, He died in
1904. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb became parents of two children but lost both in infancy.
In politics Mr. Lamb has always maintained an independent course. His
religious faith is that of the Universalist church and he is a broad and liberal
minded man who keeps in touch with the trend of modern thought and activity but
who devotes the greater part of his attention to his art, his developing powers
having placed his name high on the roll of the leading artists of
New England
. He is a life member of both the New York Water Color Club and the American
Water Color Society of New York, and also belongs to the Artists Guild of
Chicago.
Titles of some known works by F.
Mortimer Lamb
"The
Races at the Brockton Fair"
(watercolor)
- 1891
"Study
of a Dog"
(watercolor)
- 1893
"Spring,
1894"
(watercolor)
- 1894
"The
Spirit of
1861"
- 1895
Mural
at Brockton City Hall
"The
Ninth Massachusetts
Battery"
- 1895
Mural
at Brockton City Hall
"Babies
Playing"
(oil)
- c. 1895-1900
"The
Marshes, 1897" landscape
(watercolor)
- 1897
"Teapot
and Quail" still like
(watercolor)
- 1898
"Dog
Trailing" (gouache on
paper)
- c. 1898-1903
"Chicks"
(watercolor)
- 1899
"Evening Shadow" (watercolor)
- 1899
"Brockton
Fair Poster"
(serigraph)
- 1903
"Italian
Landscape"
(oil)
- c. 1905-1910
"Women
feeding chickens"
(oil)
- c. 1906-1911
"My
Mother [portrait of Ardelia A. Lamb]"
(oil)
- c. 1907-1910
Collection
of the Stoughton Public Library
"Amasa
A. Lamb" [father of F. Mortimer Lamb]
(oil)
- c. 1907-1910
Collection
of the Stoughton Public Library
"A
Weather Breeder"
(oil)
- c. 1907-1912
"The
House Glorified"
(oil)
- c. 1907-1912
"Along
the Charles River"
(oil)
- c. 1909-1914
"Fleeting
Shadows"
(oil)
- c. 1909-1914
"A
Flock of Geese"
(pastel)
- c. 1910-1914
"Neck
O'Land"
(pastel)
- c. 1911-1915
"Our
New
England"
- c. 1912-1915
"When
the trees are
bare"
- c. 1911-1915
"Rooster
and
chickens"
- c. 1912-1914
"Giovanni
Castano [1896-1978] - portrait"
(pastel)
- c. 1912
"Storm
Clouds" (oil)
"A
pool and Birches"
(oil)
- c. 1912-1925
"Outward
Bound Tramp steamer"
(oil)
- c. 1912-1917
"Early
Morning"
(oil)
- c. 1912-1917
"Winter
Evening"
(oil)
- c. 1912-1917
"The
Stone Pier"
(oil)
- c. 1912-1917
"Winter
Landscape"
(pastel)
- c. 1915-1919
"Ames
Pond" (pastel on
linen)
- c. 1915-1919
"Spring" (watercolor)
- 1916
"Nimbus" (pastel)
- 1916
"Just Snow" (pastel)
- 1916
"Threatening" (pastel)
- 1916
"Morning Shadows" (pastel)
- 1916
"The Last of the Snow" (pastel)
- 1916
Ames Pond Causeway, West Street (pastel on silk)
- 1917
Private
collection
"Blue
Hills" (pastel on
linen)
- c. 1918-1923
"A New England Byway" (pastel)
- 1918
"Late Afternoon" (pastel)
- 1918
"A Day in June" (watercolor)
- 1918
"Summer Clouds" (watercolor)
- 1918
"The West Wind" (watercolor)
- 1919
"Butler's
Cove" (pastel on
linen)
- c. 1920-1925
"Autumn
is
Come"
- c. 1921-1926
"Mrs.
Sally Wentworth" - portrait
(oil)
- c. 1922
Mary
Baker Eddy House Museum, Stoughton, Mass.
"Through
the Birches"
(oil)
- c. 1922-1923
"When Earth and Sky Meet" (watercolor)
- 1924
"Dimensions
of Moonlight"
(pastel)
- c. 1925-1932
"Mrs.
Lucy Wentworth Holmes" - portrait
(oil)
- 1926
Mary
Baker Eddy House Museum, Stoughton, Mass.
"The
Inspiration [portrait of Mary Baker Eddy]"
- 1927
The
First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston, Mass.
"A
young girl" -
portrait
- c. 1928
"An
Age old
tussle"
- c. 1928-1934
"Lilacs"
(oil)
- c. 1929-1931
"Vegetables"
still life
(oil)
- c. 1929-1933
Collection
of Stoughton Historical Society
"Henry
L. Pierce" portrait
(oil)
- 1930
Collection
of the Stoughton Public Library
"The
Old Homestead" (oil)
Collection
of the Stoughton Public Library
"Self
Portrait" [Francis Mortimer Lamb]
- 1933
Collection
of the Stoughton Public Library
Additional
F. Mortimer Lamb paintings
from the collections of
the
Stoughton
Public Library
"Landscape
with Cottages and Elm" (oil)
Contact
Stoughton Public Library make an appointment to
see these wonderful paintings.
Do you have a F. Mortimer Lamb painting
you would be willing to share an image of ?
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