Derwent Lees
1884-1931
Born in Tasmania, he studied at Melbourne University and then in Paris. In 1905 he went to London and enrolled at the Slade School of Art and so distinguished himself as a draughtsman that Henry Tonks asked him to join the teaching staff. Lees taught at the Slade between 1908 and 1918. Travelling widely in Europe, his subjects include French, Spanish, Italian and Belgian localities. Intimate with J. D. Innes and Augustus John, his work - often small in scale and on panel - shared with them a passionately romantic response to landscape. Lees's decorative sense and fluid, shorthand method of paint application owe much to their influence. Often portraying his wife Lyndra within a lyrical landscape, Lees was also a highly skilled portrait draughtsman. A member of the New English Art Club from 1911, he held a one-man show at the Chenil Gallery in 1914. Suffering mental illness in 1918, Lees ceased to paint and was thereafter confined to an institution. A book about his life and work, In Search of Derwent Lees, by Harry Lew was published in 1996.
Works Available
Head of a Woman (thought to be Ida Nettleship)