Suffolk artist Maggi Hambling will return to the place of her birth this summer to stage a new exhibition celebrating a career of more than six decades. 

The controversial and much-loved artist will return to her hometown of Sudbury with ORIGINS, an exhibition which pays homage to Hambling’s love of her home county. 

ORIGINS will come to the recently revamped Gainsborough’s House on June 17. 

The building was formerly the home of Suffolk artist Thomas Gainsborough. This is a significant place for Hambling, who first visited at the age of ten. 

East Anglian Daily Times: Maggi Hambling has pushed boundaries in the art world over the course of her long career. Image: Douglas Atfield / Maggi HamblingMaggi Hambling has pushed boundaries in the art world over the course of her long career. Image: Douglas Atfield / Maggi Hambling (Image: Douglas Atfield / Maggi Hambling)

“It was the first place that I registered real art,” said Hambling. “I remember his cows and trees – that was the first time I looked at an oil painting and was taken to another place”.  

A selection of 30 works will be featured from the course of Hambling's long career, some on display for the first time. 

The earliest work will be Rosie the Rhino, a black ink drawing which Hambling created in 1963 when she was a student at Ipswich School of Art. 

Rosie, Hambling said, “was my first portrait and the first time I used ink. Although Rosie was dead, there was a definite interaction between her and me.”  

East Anglian Daily Times: The earliest work on display will be Rosie the Rhino. Image: Maggi Hambling The earliest work on display will be Rosie the Rhino. Image: Maggi Hambling (Image: Maggi Hambling)

East Anglian Daily Times: Hambling's 'Certain', 2017. Image: Maggi HamblingHambling's 'Certain', 2017. Image: Maggi Hambling (Image: Maggi Hambling)

East Anglian Daily Times: Hambling's 'Lipstick', 2019. Image: Maggi HamblingHambling's 'Lipstick', 2019. Image: Maggi Hambling (Image: Maggi Hambling)

East Anglian Daily Times: Hambling's 'Father painting', 1997. Image: Maggi HamblingHambling's 'Father painting', 1997. Image: Maggi Hambling (Image: Maggi Hambling)

Hambling also pays tribute to the Suffolk landscape, with Wall of Water (2010) and Early Morning Sea (2013) as two examples of Hambling’s long-running series of depictions of the North Sea off the Suffolk coast. 

Mark Bills is the director of Gainsborough’s House. He said: “Thomas Gainsborough and Maggi Hambling were both born in Sudbury. Although over two centuries apart, following our transformational refurbishment, visitors to Gainsborough’s House are now able to see both historical masterpieces and contemporary art by these two great Sudbury-born artists.  

“We are delighted to be showing works by Maggi Hambling – an international icon who continues the rich artistic legacy of Suffolk.”