About this resource
This resource allows you to explore The Whisper, a sculpture by Scottish artist William Lamb using 3D (three-dimensional) technology to view it from all angles, focus on details, and see the surface marks made by the artist's tools (and fingers!). You can also see elements of the sculpture that you may not see if you visited the sculpture in a gallery – such as the top of the sculpture and underneath it.
This unfinished sculpture by Scottish artist William Lamb is in the collection of The William Lamb Studio in Montrose, Angus where Lamb lived and worked.
About William Lamb
William Lamb (1893–1951) was a sculptor, printmaker and watercolourist who was born in Montrose. While working as an apprentice stone mason he studied art at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen. Despite being injured as a soldier in the First World War and losing the use of his right hand, he went on to study at Edinburgh School of Art and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to Montrose in 1924 and established his studio. He gained recognition with his portraits of the Royal Family modelled in the 1930s, but became best known for his sculptures of fishermen and local people he saw around Montrose.
About the sculpture
Not all of William Lamb's sculptures were portraits. He also created sculptures that are allegorical, suggesting the influence of Symbolism. The Whisper shows two embracing figures wrapped in cloaks, their faces half-covered. Rather than being depictions of real people, Lamb has created the sculpture to symbolise or represent an idea. It suggests something mysterious or secretive. (Lamb didn't finish the sculpture so we don't know if he planned to add more detail.)
The sculpture is carved from stone. The surface of the sculpture is marked with small lines or grooves. These grooves are made by a claw chisel. A claw chisel is a special type of chisel that has small teeth or prongs and is used by stone carvers to shape stone. The direction of the chisel marks makes us more aware of the curves of the sculpture and emphasises its undulating form.
Sculptures by William Lamb
(See more sculptures on the artist's page)
Explore more 3D treatments of William Lamb sculptures
HRH The Princess Elizabeth (1933)
Portrait of Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978) (1927)
William Lamb (1893–1951), Self Portrait (1930)
Minesweeper (1944)
