Not a speck of dust in sight. Gleaming walls, shiny floors and staff poised like a coiled spring.

Here we go again, a new season dawns at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, this time around opening with a classy and important exhibition tracing the development of British figurative art through the paintings and drawings of some of the major artists of the 20th Century including Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore, Euan Uglow, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Auerbach, Bomberg and Paula Rego, not to mention the master Freud.

In there too are Walter Sickert's coarse images of urban realism with a hint of French Impressionism; Michael Andrews's oil All Night Long, a breezy snapshot of a social bash; and Ron Kitaj works, frank, frontal and bold as ever -just some of the many works to entice art lovers to Abbot Hall.

The Kendal art gallery has a strong collection of 20th century British art, particularly portrait and figure painting.

So with loans from other collections, in-house treasures and the latest addition of Paula Rego's triptych, the gallery has opened its doors for 2003 with a real banker - The Enduring Image - running until April 3.

Up the gallery stairs and the fluidity of Maggi Hambling's brushstrokes greets you. A clever introduction to the exhibition, well placed by curator Hannah Neale who, I have to say, has done a sterling job hanging the work maximising the space and light of the gallery.

Best know for her portraits of famous names, Maggie's early years were spent as a performance and installation artist, and it's wasn't until 1973 that she focused on the figurative. The sheer physical presence of Lett, Evening shows great character, through pose, setting and vivid, expressive sweeps of paint - very Bacon-esque.

Another striking image is the abstract and angular Horizon by Tony Bevan. His heads are reduced to patterns of lines and structures, boulders on a landscape.

In sharp contrast to Horizon is Euan Uglow's nude, Jana, an athletic human form almost geometrical placed against a chequered red and black tiled studio floor.

In addition to his contribution to The Enduring Image, Abbot Hall is staging a special show from July 7 to October featuring 50 paintings by Euan, one of Britain's most distinguished contemporary painters who died in August 2000.

As well as new art there's a fresh face within Lakeland Arts Trust - which administers Abbot Hall, Kendal Museum and Blackwell - Deborah Prince, who is raring to go on the publicity trail.

Deborah grew up in Chorley, Lancashire, and after university at Hull went to London to pursue a job in marketing: "My genuine interest in art was enhanced through visiting galleries such as Tate Modern. In my last job the company I worked for did PR for, among others, the V&A, the British Museum, the Baltic and the Cabinet War Rooms.

"It's ironic that the new exhibition at Abbot Hall features a painting by Auerbach of Primrose Hill in London. It's a place I visited often but I now look at that painting and feel quite pleased that I've moved on.

"There are paintings in Abbot Hall that take my breath away, and others that I need to understand further before I really appreciate how significant they are. I think this is a common reaction for most people.

"We can't all be experts, but at Abbot Hall visitors have the opportunity to take their time and really get close to the paintings which is actually quite rare for an art gallery.

"So I like to think I now have the best of both worlds. I live in a stunning part of the country and work with a great team of people surrounded by art."

l Abbot Hall is open Monday to Saturday 10.30am-4pm (5pm from April) closed Sundays. For further details contact 01539-722464.

February 13, 2003 10:30