'A Quiet National Treasure': Gordon Lambert and the Making of a Collection

Irish Arts Review

'A Quiet National Treasure': Gordon Lambert and the Making of a CollectionAuthor(s): Catherine MarshallSource: Irish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol. 15 (1999), pp. 71-79Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20493047 .

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'A QUIET NATIONAL TREASURE' GORDON LAMBERT AND THE MAKING OF A COLLECTION

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In 1991 Gordon Lambert formally handed over his collection of art works to the

newly-founded Irish Museum of Modern Art (Fig 1). The donation was an important moment in the history of art in Ireland. It not only marked the opening of the first national institution of modem and contem porary art in the country but gave it at the

same time a ready made inaugural collec tion: more fundamentally, the expectation of this donation was one of the important stimuli in the decision to go ahead with the museum's very estab lishment. The donation was significant in terms of its content also.

Comprising as it does over three hundred works by leading artists from the United States, Latin America, Europe, Britain, and Ireland, the collection has always been truly intemational in its breadth. Since the collection began in the 1960s, it has repre sented a coming together of artists in Ireland with widely divergent practices and backgrounds at a time when there was no other national forum for this and, as such, it symbolised much that the Museum has since come to represent.

So what of the man behind this donation and how did the

collection itself come about? Gordon Lambert is, of course, widely known both as an art collector and as a suc

cessful businessman but, remarkably, only a handful of those who know him for one of these roles has any appreci

ation of his commitment to the other. Perhaps it is because most of us have difficulty carving out one identity for ourselves that we attribute some kind of schizophrenia to those who excel in

two, especially in two such divergent fields. There is also some suspicion that things are not what they seem, that the devoted collector could not be a capable businessman but must have inherited a position in commerce to fuel his passion for acquisi tion or, conversely, that the successful businessman employs an art expert to advise on the collection as Bernard Berenson advised Isabella Stuart Gardiner. Gordon Lambert gives the lie to such speculation. His success in both areas derives from his personal engagement fuelled by his holistic view that the two roles are inseparable and mutually enhancing and, when com bined, they add up to more than the sum of their parts.

Catherine Marshall

pays tribute to a collector

whose donation is at the

core of the Irish Museum of

Modern Art

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'A QUIET NATIONAL TREASURE': GORDON LAMBERT AND THE MAKING OF A COLLECTION

-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ---- -------

2. Henry Robertson CRAIG (1916-84): The Regatta. 1958-9. Oil on canvas, 76.5 x 101.7 cm. (National Gallery of Ireland). The figures in the painting include Gordon Lambert in the foreground (left), Vivette and David Hendriks seated (left); Lady Ursula Vernon and her husband, Stephen (standing, left). Patrick Hennessy is standing

framed by the arch to the left of centre and the standing figure looking towards him is a self-portrait of the artist.

It is difficult to sum up Gordon Lambert's extensive business career but the highlights are important to any appraisal of the

man as an art collector. He qualified as an accountant soon after

his graduation from Trinity College, worked for W & R Jacob, a family firm of biscuit manufacturers, rising through the ranks from Chief Accountant to become Marketing Director, Managing

Director, and finally Chairman in 1977, and, in the process,

becoming the first non-family member of the board. Other direc torships followed, the ESB, Hibernian Insurance, Dublin

Regional Tourism, council member of the Irish Management Institute, and Hon Senator of the Junior Chamber Intemational.

One link between the world of business and the world of art

was the issue of design. Like Samuel Madden in the 18th cen

tury and Hugh Lane at the outset of this one, Gordon Lambert

was a crusader for better quality design and visual presentation.

But while Madden and Lane hoped to improve Irish design by

collecting and showing art, Gordon Lambert went a stage fur

ther. His famous association with the Jacob's Radio and

Television Awards and their sponsorship of the first-ever

passenger flights in and out of Cork airport, manned by biscuit

eating politicians and sporting celebrities, should not eclipse the fact that he was responsible for the first colour photogravure

advertisement in the Irish Times in February 1962. He was a

founder member of the Society of Designers in Ireland and served as Chairman of the National Agricultural and Industrial

Development Association which acted as a showcase for Irish produce nationally and internationally. His introduction of Sybil Connolly to Ted Hickey led to the Irish Fashion exhibition at

The Ulster Museum although his suggestion that each couturier (Irene Gilbert, lb Jorgensen, and others) should select an art

work to accompany their garments was not implemented.

The pivotal moment in Gordon Lambert's involvement with the arts was probably his meeting with Cecil King in the late

1940s when they regularly frequented the Robt Robert's cafe in Grafton Street. King had not yet given up publishing for paint ing but art was a much discussed topic at the soirees at his home in Pembroke Road in the fifties and sixties. It was there that

Gordon Lambert met Neville Johnson, Thurloe Connolly of the

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'A QUIET NATIONAL TREASURE':

GORDON LAMBERT AND THE MAKING OF A COLLECTION

3. Barbara WARREN (b.1925): Pont du Carrousel. 1954. Oil on canvas, 25 x 36 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modem Art). This painting, by a life

long friend, is the first artwork acquired by Gordon Lambert.

White Stag group, Noel Sheridan, and Oliver Dowling. It was

also there that Gordon Lambert was inspired to buy his presse

painting by Michael Farrell, a frequent visitor who nicknamed Lambert 'Marietta Biscuit' in reference to the collector's efforts to promote his company's product. Cecil King introduced

Gordon Lambert to The Dublin Painters Gallery where he came

to know Henry Robertson Craig and Patrick Hennessy. Barbara

Warren, whom Gordon Lambert had known since childhood, was also there. The impact of this first contact is reflected in

Gordon Lambert's first purchases. Pont du Carousel by Barbara

Warren (Fig 3) was bought in 1954. Boy with a Seagu11 by Patrick

Hennessy and L'Aperitif by Craig were added to the collection in the following year while Henry Robertson Craig was later asked

to paint Lambert's mother's portrait. Another friend from this period was David Hendriks whose gallery in St Stephen's Green

was to be a major plank in the creation of Irish Modemism. He

was also the source of many of the works in the Lambert

Collection and Gordon's close friendship with Hendriks led to his commissioning two portraits of the dealer, one by Adrian

Hall and one in collaboration with Robert Ballagh. Both pictures are now in the collection. Cecil King also introduced Gordon Lambert to Monika Kinley in London from whom he bought his

first William Scott painting in 1961 as well as a painting by

Prunella Clough, the first of his non-Irish acquisitions. It would be wrong to conclude, however, that Gordon

Lambert's art education was entirely gleaned from Cecil King's soirees, the Hendriks Gallery, or Robt Roberts cafe. Certainly there was little interest in art at Sandford Park School or at

home in Highfield Road. The only images on the ancestral walls

were sporting prints and a colour photograph of Montreux where his parents had honeymooned. Yet despite the family's overriding interest in sport (his father captained the Gentlemen of Ireland cricket team for twenty-six years and he and his

brothers were also prominent sportsmen), there are clear-indica tions of artistic sensibility in Gordon Lambert's early years. The

frontispiece to a scrapbook (Fig 4) of adolescent film idols, made

when the collector was fourteen years old, is made from a col

lage of strips of coloured paper which presage his later love of

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4. Gordon LAMBERT: Frontispiece to Scrapbook. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modem Art). Made when the collector was 14 years old, the abstract collage anticipates Lambert's later interest in Pop and Kinetic art.

5. Cecil KING (1921-86): Souruon. 1975. Oil on canvas, 122 x 183 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection ). The artist Cecil King was one of Lambert's closest friends and mentors.

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'A QUIET NATIONAL TREASURE': GORDON LAMBERT AND THE MAKIN(G OF A COLLECTION

Kinetic and Op Art. It also challenges the

notion that he was not interested in

Abstraction until Cecil King nudged him in that direction. A beautifully-composed set of photographs survive from a cruise

undertaken with his parents when Gordon Lambert was sixteen. Despite the limitations of the old box camera with

which they were taken, each one testifies to a high level of visual sophistication -

yet Gordon Lambert recalls with amuse

ment that his father was so unmoved by

the striking outline of the Rock of

Gibraltar that. he barely looked up from

the book on boxing that he was reading as

they approached it. At that early stage,

too, Gordon Lambert was prepared to put

his head on the block for artistic freedom.

A letter to the Evening Mail, signed 'Strike me Censor', from the teenage

Lambert decries the film censorship that banned the showgirls' legs from Irish pub lic view in Eddie Cantor's film Strike Me

Pink. By the late sixties, Gordon Lambert

was already known as a serious collector

of the best international contemporary art. The Picasso, Braque (Fig 6), and

Miro prints were all purchased at this

time as were the works by Vasarely (Fig

7) which are still Lambert's favourites. Although he was not a member of the

organising committee of the first Rosc exhibition in 1967, the only work from an

Irish collection selected for inclusion was his Curvas Immateriale by Jesus Raphael

Soto (Fig 8). But even then it was clear

that Gordon Lambert's interest in the arts

was not confined to acquisition. In 1966,

he persuaded Albright & Wilson and

-~~~~~~. , | ,

6. Georges BRAQuE (1882-1963): Trois Oiseaux En Vol. 1961. Lithograph, 74 x 52 cm. (Gordon Lambert

Collection. Irish Museum of Modem Art). By the 1960s, Lambert was already known as a serious collector of

international contemporary art and his purchases of Braque, Picasso, and Miro prints date from this time.

Goodbody Limited to sponsor an exhibition entitled Contemporary Art from Irish Industry, a move that was intended

to promote corporate patronage in the absence of state funding. He championed moves to create a national museum of modem

art and worked to promote Irish artists at home and abroad. He

wrote to the Director of the National Gallery calling for his sup

port to prevent the break-up of Basil Goulding's collection of contemporary art, wrote to Monika Kinley in London about a

number of promising artists here, and when the Irish Arts Review first appeared, he sought critical comment on it from outside Ireland, initially from Penelope Dickson in Milan. Typically,

when invited by friends of Sybil Connolly's to join the Intemational Council of MoMA, New York in 1980 (a position

he retained for twelve years), he brought a video of the 1967

and 1971 Rosc exhibitions to show to the other members. This and the contacts he made there led to the showing of a number

of MoMA exhibitions in Ireland, notably the Roy Lichenstein exhibition in 1988. His energetic move to persuade the Rothko Foundation to give a painting to Ireland only failed because there was no appropriate institution to house it in the 1980s. He also took every opportunity to educate politicians and the busi ness community about the importance of art in a healthy soci ety. In a speech of February 1983, he said that 'in a divided

Ireland the arts continue to be a unifying force because they transcend social status, income levels and political and religious differences.' He persuaded politicians that art had a particular role in times of economic stalemate. The same speech finished

with the following words: 'Irish artists have never been used to

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7. Victor VASARELY (1908-): Lint. 1968. Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 160 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modern Art). This painting, together with the Soto (Fig 8) are still the collector's favourites.



8. jesus Raphael SOTO (1923-): CUrVaS Immateniale. 1966. Metal rods, 107 x 107cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modemn Art). Thiis work was the only one from an Irish collection to be selected by James Johnson Sweeney for the 1967 Rosc exhibition in Dublin.




9. Robert BALLAGH (1946-): Homage to Bemadette Greevy. 1978. Acrylic (and cassette tape) on canvas, 109 x 109 x 15 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modem Art).

This tribute to the Irish singer was commissioned by Gordon Lambert. Lambert commissioned work from Robert Ballagh within two years of his first appearance at the Irish Exhibition of Living

Art

10. Barrie COOKE (1931-): Serious Mayfly Men use Jacob's Club Goldgrain. Collage using photographs, tom biscuit packaging, and

gouache on paper, 37 x 24 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection). The serious mayfly men referred to are the artist and his poet

friends, Richard Murphy and Ted Hughes. Lambert is shown in the photograph, bottom left.

any wealth. Because of this fact, we are witnessing how the arts

in general can become the sustainers of morale during the diffi

cult times ahead.' Throughout the sixties, seventies, and eighties, Gordon

Lambert consolidated friendships in Ireland with fellow collec tors such as Basil Goulding and Pat Murphy and artists such as

Robert Ballagh (whose works form the largest group in his col

lection), Patrick Scott, Barrie Cooke, and Camille Souter. The latter pair of artists were jointly indebted to Gordon Lambert and Basil Goulding for sponsorship of their joint exhibition 2 deeply in 1971. Barrie Cooke retumed the kindness when he and his fish ermen friends, Ted Hughes, and Richard Murphy, collectively pro posed a witty advertisement for Jacob's biscuits in which Lambert

exhorts us 'to support these lads to the last crumb' (Fig 10).

The collection is full of variety. Its strengths are usually thought to lie in the area of Kinetic and Op Art with works by

such internationally-known artists as Morellet (Fig 11), Le Parc, Cruez Diaz, and Bridget Riley as well as Soto (Fig 8) and

Vasarely (Fig 7). That view of the collection, however, is too

narrow. Conceptual art features too. Gordon Lambert got to

know James Coleman many years ago through his regular con

tact with Studio Marconi in Milan and, as a result, acquired

Coleman's models for Time Point. There are also several pieces

by the other leading Irish conceptualist, Brian O'Doherty/Patrick Ireland, most notably the documentation of the performance during which O'Doherty changed his name to Patrick Ireland. The collection also contains many fine examples of modem Irish painting. Barrie Cooke's Megacerous Hibemicus (Fig 12) is one of the highlights as it is of the artist's career and

other friends such as Patrick Collins, T P Flanagan, Brian

Maguire and, more recently, Louis Le Brocquy are well repre

sented. Sculptor Deborah Brown is another artist whose work Lambert especially admires, noting with pride that of all the works he has bought over the years, hers are the most popular

with visiting photographers. Bruce Amold has suggested that Gordon Lambert is a cau

tious collector because he did not pursue the paintings of Jack Yeats, but caution is hardly the thing one would associate with a

collector who, from the outset, favoured emerging artists. Lambert commissioned work from Robert Ballagh within two years of his first appearance at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art

and purchased Souter and Deborah Brown very early in their

careers. That this was not simply because he had less money in

those early years is proved by his purchases of Dorothy Cross in

the early eighties and of Mark Francis, Corban Walker, and

Rachel Ballagh in the nineties.

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The other extraordinary aspect of Gordon Lambert as a col

lector is his generosity. Ever since James Johnson Sweeney's selection of his Soto for the '67 Rosc exhibition prompted the

idea that the collection could be valuable to the country,

Gordon Lambert has selflessly made it available. When he gave

it to the Irish Museum of Modem Art, he generously made no

conditions about permanency of display, instantly understanding where others did not that that would ultimately deaden the artistic experience. Instead, as he explained to Niamh Anne

Kelly, 'I myself thought, having seen so many galleries around the

world, you couldn't have one person's collection on permanent display.' He is proud of the part that his collection now plays in

the Museum's busy national programme. His generosity is not

confined to the Irish Museum of Modem Art. All of the major

art collections on this island have benefited from it as well as

some less expected ones such as the Firkin Crane in Cork and

the Wexford Opera Festival. Perhaps the most surprising of

these donations (given his interest in the contemporary) was his

discovery of and donation to the National Gallery of the study

for Richard Moynan's much-loved Military Manoeuvres. Despite the heavy demands of his business commitments and

his appointment to the Senate in 1979, a role which he took with

his customary seriousness, Gordon Lambert continued to play a

major role in the supporting and promotion of artists and the arts in Ireland. From Basil Goulding, Gordon Lambert inherited the task of running the Contemporary Irish Arts Society which he in

turn relinquished to Pat Murphy. But he also found time to serve

on the Board of the National Gallery of Ireland, The Arts Council

of Northem Ireland, the International Jury at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, and other arts organisations such as the Dublin Theatre Festival

and the National Ballet. He also played an important social and

didactic role in fostering an Art Society for the employees in

Jacobs and, with James White, setting up special Sunday morning visits to the Municipal Gallery for the workers in Irish Industry.

Gordon Lambert's success as a businessman derives from his

ability to focus on the issue in hand and to marry that to imagi native lateral thinking. While politicians laboured to solve the

ongoing difficulties in relation to Northern Ireland, Gordon qui etly promoted cross-border business lunches (tactfully making them informal so that no divisive toasts were necessary), sport

ing and cultural events. As always his correlative, informing his

own humanity and transcending class, as well as sectarian and

political boundaries, is art. It is not surprising that he was

rewarded for his business acumen by receiving the Man of the

Year award from his colleagues in business in 1974. But he went on to receive the GPA award for outstanding support for the arts in 1988. His friend, Dana Wynter, likens the place of art in his life to the sea which 'runs everywhere and touches all coasts.' In her

words, Gordon Lambert is himself a 'quiet national treasure.'

CATHERINE MARSHALL is Senior Curator of the Collection at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I am grateful to Deirdre Byme, University College Dublin, for sharing with me, her extensive research on Gordon Lambert and his collection and to Niamh Anne Kelly for access to her NCAD dissertation on IMMA.

11. Francois MORELLET (1921-): Sphere Traume. 1966. Chromed steel rods, 60 x 60 x 60 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modem Art). One of the strengths of the Lambert collection is Kinetic and Op Art by such

intemationally renowned artists as Morellet, Bridget Riley, and Le Parc.

12. Barrie COOKE (1931-): Megaceros Hibericus. 1983. Ol on canvas, 168 x 183 cm. (Gordon Lambert Collection. Irish Museum of Modem Art). Lambert befriended a number of artists including Patrick Scott, Camille Souter, and

Barrie Cooke. This painting, one of the highlights of the collection, is one of the painter's masterpieces.

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'A Quiet National Treasure': Gordon Lambert and the Making of a Collection

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