Derwent Lees
Art and Life
Published on 4. September 2025
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-1-84822-711-8 (ISBN)
Description
Bringing to light the art and life of Derwent Lees (1884-1931), an Australian painter who studied and taught at the Slade School of Art in the decade preceding and including the First World War, this comprehensive monograph includes a complete catalogue of the artist's known works. Embedded within London's art world, Lees counted Augustus John, J.D. Innes, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Ambrose McEvoy as his close friends. He exhibited works in prominent London galleries and at the 1913 New York Armory show from his travels in England, Wales, France and Poland. Tragically, his promising career was cut short when he was confined to mental asylums from 1919. This publication provides a definitive account of Lees's life and impressive body of work and will stand as a primary reference resource on the artist for many years to come.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Illustrations, color; Illustrations, black and white; Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 248 mm
Width: 299 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
1640 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84822-711-8 (9781848227118)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Lynn Davies, an academic research librarian and digital curator spent much of her career at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. She has a particular interest in late-19th-century Australian social history, with an emphasis on little-known Tasmanians, and has written biographical articles, established a social history museum, and created art and optics digital archives. She has lived in Hobart, her and Derwent Lees's birthplace, and Collioure, France, for the last 20 years.
Content
Preface; 1. A Colonial Boy: 1884-1905; 2. The Young Artist: 1905-1906: 3. Mentors and Masters: 1907-1908; 4. A New Beginning: 1908-1910; 5. Confidence in the Southern Light: 1910; 6. Of Mountains and Lakes: 1911; 7. Mastering Colour: 1912; 8. Reaching his Peak: 1913; 9. Marriage and South Again: 1913-1914; 10. Joy and Pain: 1914-1915; 11. The Decline: 1916-1918: 12. The Enclosed World: 1918-1928: 13. End and Aftermath: 1928-1967; Appendix; Landscape and Geolocation; References and Notes; Catalogue Raisonne; Acknowledgements; Image Credits; Index