POOLE Museum's major summer exhibition this year is 'Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows'.

The exhibition, running May 18 until September 29, is co-curated by Harry Moore-Gwyn in partnership with The Salisbury Museum and Poole Museum.

Henry Lamb was one of the leading British figurative painters of the twentieth century. He was an accomplished musician and trained as a doctor, serving as a medical officer in WWI and being awarded the military cross.

He was commissioned as a war artist in both WWI and WWII.

Lamb was gassed in WWI and moved to Poole to recuperate. He made many studies and paintings of the urban scene and unemployed workers in the 1920s, preserving the community’s history in some of his best work.

Borough of Poole (BOP) cabinet portfolio holder for culture and community Cllr John Challinor said: "I am looking forward to another high-profile exhibition brought to Poole by our excellent museum team, giving residents and visitors an opportunity to see and find out more about the work of a local artist."

Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows takes a deeper look into the life and work of this significant and highly skilled British artist.

The exhibition showcases around sixty works drawn from private and public collections, including Tate, the Imperial War Museum and The Ashmolean Museum. The exhibition uncovers Lamb’s development as an artist from his early career and influences, right through to his deep involvement in family life in his later years in Wiltshire.

This showing of the exhibition features two major Poole works not seen in the Salisbury exhibition. These are his 1926 work, The Tea Party, which depicts Lamb’s Poole residence in Hill Street and The Level Crossing, Poole, painted in 1953.