Lloyd Rees b. 17 March 1895

  • Artist (Painter),
  • Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator),
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Lloyd Rees began his career as an architectural draughtsman, and established his reputation as an artist with detailed pen and pencil drawings of around Sydney. An accomplished landscape painter for over five decades, failing eyesight led Lloyd Rees to create semi-abstract impressions from memory towards the end of his career. Rees is represented in most of the major national and state gallery collections.

Lloyd Rees was born on 17 March 1895 in Brisbane, Queensland. He studied at the Brisbane Technical College in 1910 where F. Martyn Roberts taught him drawing. He was a full time art student in 1915 before moving to Sydney in 1917.

There Rees worked as a commercial artist with Smith & Julius Studios, where he developed his skills as a draughtsman and established friendships that continued throughout his life. He made many trips to Europe, and was particularly inspired by the French and Italian countryside. In the 1930s he depicted landscapes showing light radiating from behind the hills and through the trees; and in the 1940s he moved to depict large open vistas, painted with free, spontaneous brush stokes in a high-key palette.

From 1946 to 1986 Rees taught painting and drawing and lectured in art history at the School of Architecture, the University of Sydney, which gave him the freedom to paint without being concerned about sales. As Rees became older he became increasingly exuberant and experimental in his approach to painting and used lighter tones. In 1976 Rees began his first portfolio of prints, Memories of Europe , based on his recollections of earlier journeys. The following year he made a series of Australian Landscape prints, depicting the mountains, cliff faces, rocks and valleys of Tasmania, New South Wales and Central Australia; and in 1980 he made a series of 67 lithographs, The Caloola Suite . In the 1980s he began to suffer from poor eyesight, which led him to create semi-abstract impressions from memory improvisations. Lloyd Rees died in Hobart on 2 December 1988.

Further information
Lloyd Rees (1895-1988) was a widely respected painter of Australian landscapes and an exceptionally influential lecturer on the history of art to architecture students at the University of Sydney from 1946 to 1986. Born in Yeronga, Queensland, he began studying art in Brisbane before coming to Sydney in 1917 to work in the advertising firm of Smith and Julius (working for Sydney Ure-Smith, founder of Art in Australia). where he met other artists. His Australian landscapes, while based on acute observation and deep affection, showed European traditional influences, particularly those of Italy and France. In 1923, Rees left on the first of four trips to Europe. It was after this that his palette became stronger. However, atmosphere was always combined with solidity and structure until failing eyesight made this increasingly difficult. Water, particularly Sydney Harbour and the Lane Cove River, was a favourite subject. In 1984, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letter by the University of Tasmania, and the Order of Australia the following year. During the Australian Bicentennial, he was chosen as one of ‘Two Hundred People Who Made Australia Great’.
Sources
—http://www.australianprints.com/rees.htm

Writers:
Gray, Dr Anne Note: Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
Davina Jackson
Date written:
2006
Last updated:
2015