Tracing the life and work of Scottish sculptor William Lamb (1893–1951), this book is the first full-scale study of one of Scotland’s most talented yet underrated artists and a story of indomitable will and irrepressible creativity. The son of an alcoholic father and a survivor of the “lost generation” who came of age in 1914, it was with courage and determination that Lamb overcame the obstacles life put in his path. Traumatized in the trenches at Passchendaele during the First World War and blighted by depression, Lamb was also severely wounded in his right hand. With characteristic resolve he retrained with his left hand—at Edinburgh College of Art and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Despite the uncertainty of an art market rocked by world war, Lamb established his reputation in Montrose with sculptures of the townspeople and fishermen of east Scotland. He produced prints, watercolors, and drawings to help fund his sculpture. Occasionally he undertook commissions and in 1932 he completed portrait bronzes of the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Upon his death, he left a large collection of his artwork as a legacy to the Scottish people. The People’s Sculptor examines William Lamb’s influence and contribution to the Scottish art world, bring the life and art of one of Scotland’s greatest artists to a new generation.

John Stansfeld is the director of the Montrose Heritage Trust, an organization founded in 1999 to look after heritage projects in and around Montrose, Scotland. Duncan Macmillan is an art historian and art critic for the Scotsman. He is a former curator of the Talbot Rice Gallery and professor emeritus at the University of Edinburgh. He has written many distinguished works, including Scottish Art 1460–2000.