(b Adelaide, 21 June 1883; d Salisbury, 8 Oct. 1960) Lamb was a British painter, mainly of portraits. Under parental pressure he studied medicine but abandoned it in 1904 to become an artist. (On the outbreak of the First World War, however, Lamb returned to his medical studies, qualifying at Guy's Hospital, London, in 1916 and then serving as a medical officer in France, Macedonia, and Palestine; he was gassed and won the Military Cross. A follower of Augustus John, Lamb was a founder member of the Camden Town Group in 1911 and of the London Group in 1913. A follower of Augustus John, Lamb was a founder member of the Camden Town Group in 1911 and of the London Group in 1913. Lamb was associated with the Bloomsbury Group and is best known for his sensitive portraits of fellow members, painted in the restrained Post-Impressionist style that characterised his work throughout his career. Above all he is remembered for his portrait of Lytton Strachey (1914, Tate, London).
