28 April 2008 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition
The Lambert exhibition has just opened at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery and will be on show there until 25 May 2008. Toowoomba has a long relationship to the Australian Light Horse units so it is particularly appropriate that the opening should coincide with ANZAC Day. Throughout his tours in Palestine and Gallipoli, George Lambert was guided by Light Horse veterans of key events such as the Gallipoli landing, Romani and Beersheba.
‘Lieutenant General Sir Harry Chauvel’ 1918 by George Lambert ART02734
The Australian War Memorial has many pencil portrait sketches Lambert made of the Light Horse men he travelled with. This sensitive sketch of Lieutenant General Henry (Harry) George Chauvel GCMG, KCB (1865-1945) was made on 15 February 1918 during Lambert’s first tour of Palestine as an official war artist. At this time Lambert was travelling with the ANZAC Mounted Division around the Ayunkara / Richon le Zion area.
‘Brigadier General William Grant’ 1918 by George Lambert ART02770
Lambert also made a sketch of Brigadier General William Grant CMG, DSO (Bar), MID when he travelled to Belah in March 1918. Grant commanded the 11th Light Horse (a largely Queensland regiment) at Romani. While in Belah, Lambert attended the Divisional Sports day and made several sketches of the participants and events.
For those able to attend, there will be a special floor talk on ‘George Lambert, the Light Horse and Palestine landscapes’ presented by Assoc Prof Christopher Lee of the University of Southern Queensland at the Toowoomba Gallery on 11 May 2008.
11 February 2008 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition, Exhibition Tour
Edogawa Gardens, Gosford
I was in Gosford over the weekend opening the George Lambert exhibition at the Regional Art Gallery. Adjacent to the Gallery are the Edogawa Commemorative Gardens, beautiful restful Japanese-style gardens with lotus ponds, pavilions and a dry stone garden. As I was sitting in the tea house looking across the pond, I was reminded how much the scene resembled a Hokusai Japanese woodcut print as the rain raked across and partly obscured the pavilion in front of me. These are beautiful gardens and well worth a visit in any weather.
Janda giving a floor talk at Gosford gallery
The Gosford Regional Gallery is hosting the George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes exhibition until 30 March 2008. They will be organising some special events to coincide with the exhibition so check out their website for further information.
www.gosfordregionalgallery.com
12 July 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition
Amy Lambert’s bookIn 1938 Amy Lambert produced a book titled G.W. Lambert, A.R.A. (Thirty years of an artist’s life). Amy used a lot of personal correspondence from her husband including substantial accounts of his time working as a war artist in the Middle East and Gallipoli. Through these letters we get an insight into Lambert’s working methods, his relationships to officers and troopers of the Light Horse, and his reactions to the landscapes and historic battlefields he visited.
When he first arrived in Egypt in January 1918 he wrote that “I am ridiculously happy. Already I have done three pieces of work and everywhere I look there are glorious pictures, magnificent men and real top-hole Australian horses.” The beauty of the place overwhelmed him and he developed an abiding respect for the men of the Light Horse which eventually found expression in his large commissioned paintings. Towards the end of his second visit in 1919 and as he was packing up to return to London, he wrote to Amy: “Everything is closing up here, and there is a beastly left-over feeling about us all.” The Australian camps were being dismantled and Lambert, like others was returning to a post-war world.
This book is full of information and insights into the character of Lambert and despite Amy virtually erasing herself from the narrative, there are also many clues for the reader about their long lasting and devoted marriage. First published in 1938 it was reprinted in 1977 by Australian Artist Editions. Copies of the 1977 edition of the book are also available through the Memorial’s bookshop.
02 July 2007 by Ilaria Poli.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Conservation, Exhibition
George Lambert ‘Study for Dead Trooper and detail of Turkish trench, Gallipoli (pro Patria)’ 1919 ART02857
The majority of conservation treatments on paintings in the George Lambert: Gallipoli & Palestine Landscapes exhibition were relatiavely straightforward. There were a few exceptions to this rule, one being Study for Dead Trooper and detail of Turkish trench, Gallipoli (pro Patria), oil on canvas, 1918. A lot of work was required on the painting and its frame. This included: cleaning the surfaces of the painting and its frame, filling and inpainting the frame, cleaning the canvas edges, strip lining the whole work, attaching the canvas to a new stretcher, flattening some areas of the canvas as well as filling and inpainting the paint layer. The frame had a number of specific issues. The task of removing the old layer of gold coating from the frame was more difficult than usual as there were many layers of gesso between the bronze leaf and the top gold coating that had to be removed. There were also problems with previous repairs to the frame that were falling off during the cleaning process. As the repairs to process the frame’s corners progressed much of the old fill broke away, loosening sections that were previously fixed down. Subsequently, many parts of the corner mouldings had to be re-placed into position and sometimes new sections were moulded to size and shape. Inpainting of the filled areas and all the losses on the bronze leaf original base layer also required hours of work. Difficulty arose as there were many small areas, each of varying tones of gold. It was also one of the larger frames to be included in the exhibition so there was a greater surface area to deal with than the others.This oil on canvas painting was originally stretched onto a stretcher but at some point the canvas was laid onto a wood panel. Possibly this was to make it easier to fit into the frame and there are several examples in the collection of this having been done.
‘Study for dead trooper’ (ART02857), back of frame with corner keys
Work on the canvas began by firstly carefully removing it from the wood panel support. The canvas was not adhered very well to the panel so removal was reasonably straightforward. The back of the canvas had a great amount of old adhesive around the edges. This adhesive had to be removed to have the cleanest possible surface for further treatment. Once the old adhesive was removed the edges were slightly dampened and flattened with a heated spatula. The flatness allowed easier manipulation for the procedure of adhering polyester strips. Each strip was adhered to the canvas edge with BEVA® 371 film under heat. These polyester strips became extensions of the canvas and allowed for a greater surface area to staple the canvas to the new stretcher bar. The addition of these strips also gave the weakened canvas edges much needed extra strength. Each edge was carefully aligned and stapled onto a new stretcher. The sides of the canvas were protected by thin strips of card for added protection from the frame rebate. The tension in the canvas was then adjusted by the ‘keys’ in the corners of the stretcher. The next task was flattening four bulges in the canvas. These areas were left under a poultice and flattened with weights. Consolidation of two areas of flaking paint was undertaken using an adhesive combined with heat to attach the fragile areas. The final process was glazing, rehousing and putting a protective backing on the painting. A laminated glass was placed into the rebate edges, the painting slotted in and a backing board sat behind the canvas. The backing board was fixed down with several brackets and hangers were nailed into the frame. Laminated, non-reflective glass was used to provide better viewing and strength as the painting will be travelling as part of the exhibition.
Ilaria Poli, Conservator
25 June 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition
In early 2007 the Australian War Memorial appointed Charles Green and Lyndell Brown as official artists to Iraq and Afghanistan. Charles and Lyndell are based in Melbourne and work collaboratively on the same paintings. Their experiences as official artists travelling with the Australian Defence Forces bear some similarity to those of George Lambert ninety years ago - having to work quickly and pack up at a moment’s notice when the Forces need to move. They will be in Canberra to talk at the symposium this Friday 29 June about their time in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is also a great interview with them podcast on Radio National as well as a feature on George Lambert as a war artist. Follow this link:
www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2007/1959332.htm
10 May 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Battlefield Tours, Exhibition, Gallipoli Mission, Janda's Blog about Gallipoli, Landscape, Landscapes of war
‘ANZAC Cove’ 1919 by George Lambert (ART02839) ART02839 On their first day in the ‘Old ANZAC area’*, Lambert and Hubert Wilkins (the official photographer of the Australian Historical Mission) were taken down to ANZAC Cove by Charles Bean. Bean was keen to introduce them to the area and show them the dugout that he had occupied during 1915. The following day, 16 February 1919 Lambert made another visit to the beach and then again the next day. As a group they retraced the steps of Hedley Vicars Howe who as a Private had landed with 11 Battalion on the morning of 25 April 1915. Howe’s account of the landing and climbing up Plugge’s Plateau would also largely inform the narrative that runs through Lambert’s large commissioned work ANZAC, the landing 1915. (a separate post to follow)
Lambert held off painting an ANZAC Cove subject until towards the end of his stay on Gallipoli with the Australian Historical Mission. On 5 March he made a painting of the beach with the hills of Suvla in the distance and wrote: “In the afternoon I did a picture, not a sketch, of ANZAC Cove, chiefly palette-knife, and quite like it”. This work - unusual for Lambert in that as he observes he used a palette knife - is quickly sketched in with only the barest indication of the complex topography of the slopes leading up from the beach. But, his painting also shows the debris of war still littered across the beach including the ruins of a water-condensing plant.
‘ANZAC Cove, February 1919′ photo by Hubert Wilkins (P03631.232) P03631.232Hubert Wilkins also took a photograph of the scene from the beach level and this more clearly shows the remnants of the terraces and rubbish along the water line. Wilkins’ and Lambert’s images are both classically composed with the sweeping curve of the bay, but each conveys a different sort of information. Wilkins’ photo indicates the stucture of the altered landscape and gives an immense amount of information - Lambert gives us an impression of the confused and still raw landscape of war.
In 2007 the scene has changed dramatically. The beach is shallower due to the build up required to support the road and possibly the natural shifting processes of coastlines has contributed to this erosion. Ari Burnu headland is clothed in green scrub and any terrace contours are invisible in the dense vegetation. However, as you come around the road past Hell Spit and see ANZAC Cove for the first time, it is still instantly recognisable by the curve of the beach and distinctive profile of the headland.
Anzac Cove with Ari Burnu headland, April 2007
* Charles Bean used the term ‘Old ANZAC area’ in his book Gallipoli Mission to denote all the ground held by the ANZAC forces from April 1915 until the second major thrust in August 1915.
08 May 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Janda's Blog about Gallipoli, Landscape, Landscapes of war
Looking towards Suvla April 2007
Arbutus shrub
White Gallipoli roseGaba Tepe, 21 April 2007
In late April the days on the Gallipoli peninsula are warm and the evenings cool. Across the peninsula the landscape is a mix of rich and interesting bushy scrub as well as farming land with olive groves, wheat fields and almonds growing wild along the roads. In many places Aleppo pine trees make dense shaded groves and the arbutus shrub provides a rich green contrast to the otherwise softer grey greens of the peninsula.
The arbutus shrubs dominate the ANZAC area giving the slopes a bronze-ish tint in the late afternoon light. This year, the warmth of an early spring has brought a flush of wild flowers out across the slopes and plateaus of Gallipoli. In the higher areas along Plugge’s Plateau and Lone Pine the soft grey green brush has a carpet of white Gallipoli roses (Cistus salvifolius) underneath, occasionally interspersed with a pinky mauve variety.
Euphorbia Euphorbia
Anemone AnemoneEuphorbias, brilliant yellow or dull red are found in the drier areas and along the roadsides and wheat fields red poppies float in the light breeze. Around the cemeteries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has planted species that will flower in April; purple and white iris are common and an occasional late anemone can still be found in the lawns.
When Lambert visited Gallipoli in February 1919, it was late winter and he had to paint in icy winds and rainstorms. Despite the conditions, several of the early spring flowers were out. Understanding the landscape, its form, structure and colour was an important aspect of his work and he made detailed studies of the local plants as preparation for the later canvasses ANZAC, the landing 1915 and The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915.
Lambert’s intention was to make a series of watercolours of the local flora as a record of the natural history of the area but in the end he made only one watercolour of an individual species - an arbutus plant. Lambert described the landscape as mostly being made up of a local scrub about 2ft high with “rather a wax like leaf with a sort of blossom something like a laurel but with red stalks or sticks.”
‘Gallipoli wild flowers’ 1919 by George Lambert ART02838
His other well known work is Gallipoli wildflowers. Lambert made this painting of the flowers of the ANZAC Cove area in late February 1919. He gathered a bunch of wild flowers on 27 February in case further rain prevented him from painting up at the Nek. His bunch consisted mainly of euphorbias and anemones with sprays of grasses and soft grey succulents. With two days of rain he finished the work on 1 March and wrote: “The flower piece is finished … The flowers are in a biscuit tin sitting on top of a bed for a tent pole. The work is up to standard.” All of these species are still thriving on the peninsula but overall the landscape is much changed from when Lambert saw it. Nature has repaired much of the damage caused in 1915; the lines of trenches are softened and parts of the heights are eroding and crumbling. Importantly, the flora of the area has changed significantly since 1919. Introduced trees have been planted as part of an afforestation program and a massive fire in 1994 has caused substantial regeneration of particular species over others.
The area is now managed as part of the Gallipoli Peninsula Peace Park and covers 33,000 hectares (330 square kilometres). The park is included on the United Nations list of National Parks and Protected Areas.
30 April 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Conservation, Exhibition
‘Rest Gully and pack mule’ 1919 by George Lambert ART02856
With all the work the conservation team - David, Ilaria, Sharon, Gajendra and Sophie - have done on the Lamberts for the exhibition, lots of new things have emerged - and the backs of the images are a goldmine for information. We’ve uncovered other paintings, unfinished sketches and interesting old labels. All of this adds to our understanding of George Lambert and how he worked.
The ‘Double trouble’ post revealed the story of uncovering the back of one painting to find another - The top of the Taurus Ranges. On the back of The Nek, Walker’s Ridge, site of the charge of the light horse is a study of a horse and pack mule in Rest Gully at Gallipoli (now framed so that is visible). During his stay at Gallipoli in 1919, Lambert was assisted by soldiers assigned to help him. On this occasion he was accompanied by someone he termed a ‘Dinkum’ Aussie’ who carried the painting gear, and odd bits of salvage on a pack-mule. Lambert rode what he described as “a very ugly plug, a small draught horse which, though unspeakably plain, is useful and has a fondness for the mule. The mule breaks away every fifteen minutes or so when we camp for painting and the Dinkum shows the stuff he is made of by sliding down the side of the precipice and catching her, tethering her by some special stunt … then he climbs laboriously back to me and by the time he reaches my summit she is off again; quite a good circus for a grey day … one afternoon I varied the programme by doing a sketch of the little gully, called Rest Gully, where the 5th Field Ambulance, from Sydney, and commanded by Dr. Roth, was camped during the occupation. With the horse and mule in the foreground it made a decent sketch”. (1)
‘Walad camp follower’ 1918 by George Lambert ART02698
On the verso of Jebel Saba, near Nalin is Walad Camp follower, an oil sketch of an Arab boy. It’s a fairly simple study with lots of the background quickly dashed in. There is one brief reference to this work in a list of paintings consigned by Lambert from Palestine to London in May 1918 where he says that on the back of Jebel Saba, near Nalin “there is a study of a Walad Camp Follower.” ‘Walad’ is Arabic for ‘boy’ and a short entry in the publication Australia in Palestine noted: “You occasionally find Arab boys travelling with the Light Horse, keen little beggars who act as cooks’ offsiders and batmen’s batmen, and officers smile and sympathetically shut their eyes to it.” (2) We don’t know as yet where Lambert painted this portrait and can’t assume that just because it’s on the back of the Nalin work that it was painted around there. All the backs of the Lambert oil on cardboard and wood panel sketches were sealed with varnish or shellac to prevent the wood from warping or splitting. This is what causes the dark and light bands across the image of the boy (above).
1. Thirty Years of an Artist’s Life, by Amy Lambert, Sydney 1938, pp. 104-05.
2. Australia in Palestine, Sydney 1919, p.118.
19 April 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Battlefield Tours, Exhibition, Janda's Blog about Gallipoli
Dardanelles from Chanak, effects of blizzard on Gallipoli 1919 by George Lambert (ART02833) ART02833
Cannakale is a small town on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles. From the waterfront you look across to the Gallipoli peninsula with some of the familiar landmarks visible in the distance - Kilid Bahr, Chunuk Bair and Mal Tepe. As we walked along the waterfront we searched for the spot where Lambert may have painted Dardanelles from Chanak, effects of blizzard on Gallipoli (ART02833).
Lambert wrote of his 7 day stay here: “Snow blizzards ice and general discomfort. No coal or wood and a damp gloomy fifth rate house called the Lion Hotel, may I live to forget it.” Frustrating as it may have been, the unexpected stay gave him time to paint this sparkling view across the rough seas to the snow shrouded slopes of Chunuk Bair.
View across to Chunuk Bair
The scene is very much the same today; the Narrows is a bustling waterway wth ships on their way to and from Istanbul and the Black Sea. In this fine spring weather the waterfront promenade was crowded with people ambling along, young kids coming out of school or Uni and others just sitting in sunny spots sipping some hot drink or other.
Already, from comparing the physical landscape with Lambert’s paintings, I am learning how he ‘framed’ his views, the choices he made about what to paint and then what he might have left out or put in.
Unfortunately, the picturesque wooden jetty is no longer here!
19 April 2007 by Janda Gooding.
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Battlefield Tours, Exhibition, Janda's Blog about Gallipoli
In late 2006 I was fortunate to receive a Gordon Darling Travel Grant to do field work at Gallipoli. The purpose of the grant is to examine the landscape of Gallipoli in relation to paintings and photographs of Gallipoli in the Memorial’s collection. I joined the Memorial’s Battlefield tour that left Australia 13 April. After 4 days in Istanbul we have arrived in Cannakale [Chanak] a small town on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles that looks across the Narrows to the Gallipoli peninsula. For a more detailed account of the battlefield group’s progress and some fantastic photos of what we are doing, check out my colleague John Lafferty’s blog.
Inside the fort, Chanak 1919 by George Lambert ART02832
Today we visited the ruins of Troy and the Dardanelles battery positions before heading back to Cannakale for an afternoon discussing the importance of this place to the Gallipoli campaign. George Lambert spent some time in Cannakale on his way to Gallipoli with the Australian Historical Mission in early 1919. Stranded for 7 days by rough seas and blizzards, Lambert spent his time painting and looking across the Narrows to Gallipoli. I know how he felt; we have been circling around, getting ever closer to our destination for the last few days!
While here, I wanted to locate the sites of a couple of Lambert’s paintings and in particular Inside the fort, Chanak (ART02832). This afternoon we visited the Cimenlik Castle fort built by Sultan Mehmet the second [the Conqueror] in 1461-1462. The fort now houses the Cannakale Military Museum.
When Lambert painted this, evidence of the fierce Allied bombardment of Cannakale was still very raw. The central feature of his painting is the Fatih Mosque of Sultan Mehmet II, with the badly damaged minaret rising from the battlements. The building on the right [the castle keep] has been completely restored but the damage line [so evident in Lambert's painting] is still visible in the stonework. The minaret has also been rebuilt and looks oddly new and somewhat incongruous amongst the stone battlements.
Inside the fort, Chanak today
Lambert’s painting must have been quickly sketched in on a cold and bleak day but captures superbly the tone and atmosphere of the fort complex. John Lafferty has taken this great photo from a similar vantage point to Lambert’s painting to show how it was this afternoon!
