George Cochran Lambdin

(1830-1896)

Lambdin was a highly skilled genre painter during the earlier part of his career. By the 1870s he became an avid gardener, growing magnificent flowers, which prompted a distinctive series of outdoor floral still lifes, often roses, depicted against a natural brick or stone wall. While my family was living in Hong Kong, I became involved with the U.S. Consulate and Chamber of Commerce in 1976, organizing many events to celebrate our nation’s bicentennial. My contribution was a comprehensive exhibition of American art from my own collection roughly reflecting our country’s history, and organizing the effort revealed a number of deficiencies in the collection. One of these was in 19th-century still life, so from halfway around the world I located this quintessential example from Ken Lux. With crossed fingers and a few hopeful prayers, the painting was shipped to Hong Kong and participated in “The American Fortnight,” an ironic term commemorating America’s independence from England in a British Crown Colony.