Biography
Lloyd Frederic Rees was born at the family home Avalon, in, Yeronga, a suburb of Brisbane. His ambition to study architecture was frustrated by a weakness in maths and physics. After leaving school in 1911, he worked as a clerk until 1913 when he was appointed Junior Artist on the staff of the Queensland Government Printing Office. At this time he attended evening art classes at Brisbane Technical College under the tutorage of Godfrey Rivers, Martyn Roberts, and L.J. Harvey who were all influential in his development. Here he gained his first exposure to the coloured reproductions of Turner, Corot and Constable, drawings of Italy and photographs of the great buildings of Paris, all of which, and especially Corot, made lasting impressions on the young Rees. Following a period of illness, Rees was able to study full time at the Brisbane Technical College, where his skills with pen, pencil and watercolour were honed. He soon attracted the attention of Sydney Ure Smith, publisher of Art in Australia, who offered a job with Smith & Julius Studio in Sydney. Commencing work in 1917, Rees found that the Studio was a hub for the Sydney art circle, and he was soon acquainted with the Lindsays, Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Nellie Melba, Henry Lawson and Roland Wakelin, who became a close lifelong friend
In 1931 he married Marjory Pollard, and together they built a home at Northwood, on the Lane Cove River, which was to be a focal point for Rees for several decades. In the mid 1930s, due to ill health, Rees refrained from using oil paint concentrating, on pencil drawings of Sydney, the harbour and the suburbs. Through these refined drawings, Rees cemented his reputation as one of Australia’s finest draughtsmen gaining international recognition when awarded the Silver Medal for Drawing at the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques in Paris. Rees said in 1940 that “drawing is a structural necessity for all depictive art of a vital and permanent character”. (1)
Until 1946 he worked mainly as a freelance commercial artist (which included designing two of the floats for the Opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge) and in the early 1940s, he also taught drawing at evening classes at the Sydney Technical College. In 1946 he was appointed as a part-time lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney teaching Drawing and the History of Art. This appointment gave him more time to concentrate on his own work, and he freely acknowledged the valuable stimulus that he received from the students that he taught. He continued to teach there for the next forty years, giving his final lectures at the end of 1986. In 1942 he joined the Northwood Group of painters.
In 1952-53 Lloyd Rees visited Europe again, this time with his family. San Gimignano and the light tone of Italy encouraged him to lighten his palette, aided by the discovery of lead-free titanium white. This caused a marked change in the tone of the work, the blue in particular becomes a much higher tone. He returned to Europe in 1959, 1966-67, and in 1973, when Chartres became the major subject. When working overseas Rees concentrated on sketches, drawings, watercolours, and occasionally, oils. He developed many of the sketches into fully worked up oils on his return to Australia. At home, his favourite locations included the Sydney environs, Bathurst, the Illawarra, Central Australia and Tasmania. Rees loved nature and strived in much of his art to capture every day beauty. Like Cezanne and Corot, he used a meditative approach observing details over time.
The paintings, particularly the early landscapes, often have signs of habitation. Rees was fascinated by colour and managed to portray differences with great subtlety, making some of the works quite exquisite. Another change in the 1960s is the texture which becomes heavier, almost taking on the character of the earth itself. Rees last stage, known as the heroic stage, is more abstract and employs a lighter tone. In some of the later landscapes there is little sign of habitation and detail has largely given way to a wash of colour and tone, which Rees masterly employs with shape to create an almost touchable, floating, atmosphere. His passion for the Gothic makes him, like Turner, strive to capture the sublime and in his later years he bathes the viewer in light and sun, veiling us “in mists in overwhelming present”. (2)
Lloyd Rees was a member of Society of Artists 1932, later Vice President then President and a Foundation member of Australian Academy of Art 1938.
(1) Renee Free, Lloyd Rees, Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd Melbourne, 1972, P10 (2) Lloyd Rees with Renee Free, Lloyd Rees An Artist Remembers, Craftsman’s House Sydney, 1988, p9
We thank Jan and Alan Rees for their assistance in compiling this biography
Selected Exhibitions
1995
Lloyd Rees Drawings, Centenary Retrospective, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1993
Lloyd Rees, Brett Whiteley: On the Road to Berry, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne
1990
The Cathedrals of France by Lloyd Rees: An exhibition from the University of Sydney Collection, The Gallery, Seymour Centre, University of Sydney
1989
A Celebration of Lloyd Rees, University of Melbourne Gallery
Lloyd Rees: Etchings and Lithographs, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1987
Lumiere du Bout du Monde, Printemps Haussman, Paris
1986
Lloyd Rees as Printmaker, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
1984
Lloyd Rees – A Lifetime, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst NSW
Lloyd Rees: Some Tasmanian Works, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Tasmania
1982
Lloyd Rees: The Printed Works, Art Gallery of Western Australia
Lloyd Rees: Late Drawings and Lithographs, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
1981
Lloyd Rees Survey, Drawings and Paintings 1918-1980, University Gallery, University of Melbourne
1975
A Tribute to Lloyd Rees, Queensland Art Gallery
1973
New Grafton Gallery, London
1969
Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1931
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney. Start of a long association
Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1918
First Solo Exhibition
1912
Queensland Art Society
Achievements, Collections & Commissions
ACHIEVEMENTS:
1988
Australian Bicentennial Authority's list Two Hundred People who made Australia Great
Sydney University Union Medal for services to art & to the University
1987
Medaille de la Ville de Paris for services to art 1987, (Echelon Vermeil)
Inaugural Jack Manton Prize, Brisbane, winner.
1986
Inaugural Medal of the Painters and Sculptors Association of Australia
1985
Awarded Companion of the Order of Australia
Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary Foundation
Henry Lawson Australian Arts Award
1984
Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Tasmania
1983
McCaughey Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1982
Wynne Prize for Landscape Painting, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Winner
1981
Mosman Art prize, winner
City of Bathurst, Honorary Citizenship Certificate
1979
Honorary Fellowship of Royal Australian Institute of Architects
1978
Awarded CMG for services to art
1976
Granted Freedom to the City of Sydney
1971
The John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, winner
1970
Australian Internation Co-operation Art Award, Winner
Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Sydney
1969
McCaughey Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1964
HC Richards Memorial Art Prize, winner
1961-65
Visual Arts Committee for UNESCO
1960-65
President Society of Artists, Sydney
1957
Commonwealth Jubilee Art Prize, Winner
1954
Dunlop Art Prize, joint second prize
1951
The Commonwealth Jubilee Art Prize, Winner
Municipalty of Ku-ring-gai Jubilee Art Prize, winner
1950
Wynne Prize for Landscape Painting, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Winner
1949
Sydney representative for Felton Bequest
1941
Godfrey Rivers Prize, winner
1937
Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques, Paris, Silver medal for drawing
1917
Art Gallery of NSW acquired three drawings from a Society of Artists Exhibition
Bibliography
‘Australian Landscape of Painters Today’, in Art in Australia 1929 (illus. Waterside Café, oil)
Badham, H. E., A Study of Australian Art, Sydney, Currawong, 1949
Burdett, B., ‘The Later Works of Lloyd Rees’ in Queensland Magazine, July 1924
Carter, N., ‘Lloyd Rees, Landscapes in oils’ in Art in Australia, no. 72, August 1938 (colour illus. Summer in the Bush)
Free, R., Lloyd Rees, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1972 (reprinted 1979)
Free, R., Lloyd Rees Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1969
Free, R., (in collaboration with Lloyd Rees), Lloyd Rees: the last 20 years, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1990 (a revised edition with additional material of Lloyd Rees: the later works)
Free, R., Rees, L., Lloyd Rees: the later works, The Craftsman’s Press, Sydney, 1983
Gleeson, J., Mastepieces of Australian Painting, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1969
Lahey, V., Art in Queensland 1859-1959, Queensland Art Gallery, 1959 (illus. Rue St Julien le Pauvre, oil)
Klepac, L.(ed), Lloyd Rees: Drawings, Australian Artist Editions, 1978
Kolenberg, Hendrik, Lloyd Rees drawings: Centenary Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1995 (Includes an introductory essay. The 129 drawings, 1913-1988, in the exhibition are illustrated [44 in colour])
Kolenberg, Hendrik, Lloyd Rees: etchings and lithographs: a catalogue raisonné, Beagle Press, Sydney, 1986 (With 95 illustrations of etchings and lithographs, 1922-1984)
Kolenberg, Hendrik, Lloyd Rees in Europe: Selected drawings from his sketchbooks in the Gallery’s collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2002.
McNally, M. J., ‘The Silent Bush’ in Art Gallery of South Australia Bulletin, no. 3, September 1939 (illus. [cover], The Silent Bush, oil)
Rees, Jancis & Rees, Alan, Lloyd Rees: a source book, Beagle Press, Sydney, 1995
Wakelin, R., ‘Lloyd Rees, Romantic Landscapist’ in Present Day Art in Australia 2, Sydney, Ure Smith, 1945 (illus. Afternoon in Gerringong; Illawarra Pastoral [colour]; The Passing Storm; September Landscape, Orange; The Bay, oils)
AS AUTHOR
(with Renee Free) An Artist Remembers, Craftsman House, 1987 (60 colour illustrations [59 oils and 1 drawing, 1920 - 1986], accompanied by Rees’s memories of each work)
‘Douglas Dundas’ in catalogue of Society of Artists’ Exhibition 1961
‘Grecian Memories’ in catalogue of Society of Artists’ Spring Exhibition 1960
Lloyd Rees: drawings, edited with an introduction by Lou Klepac, Australian Artist Editions, Sydney, 1978
(with Elizabeth Butel) Peaks and Valleys: an autobiography, William Collins, Sydney, 1985 (reissued by Collins Publishers Australia, Sydney, 1988; [Imprint lives] Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1933; Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1995)
‘Remembering Sydney in the Twenties’ in Kalori Journal of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Adelaide, April, 1965
Sydney University: Drawings by Lloyd Rees, Smith & Julius, Sydney, 1922
The Small Treasures of a Lifetime: some early memories of Australian art and artists, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1969 (reissued by William Collins, Sydney, 1984; Collis Publishers Australia, Sydney, 1988; Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1995)
‘What Is Good Drawing?’ in Art in Australia, 23 February 1940
