Australian painter, printmaker, teacher

(b. 1895, Yeronga, Qld: d. 1988, Hobart,  Tas.) 

Lloyd Rees began drawing at the age of 13 when he copied some reproductions of drawings of Italian towns and villages by Joseph Pennell. The careful, analytical yet also sensuous approach that prompted him to make these copies remained central to his art. Throughout his long career, Lloyd Rees' work was widely accepted by all factions, largely because of its underlying sincerity and unpretentiousness. As well as painting and drawing, Lloyd Rees wrote several books including Small Treasures of a Lifetime published by Ure Smith, 1969. In his later years he renewed his energies with excursions into printmaking, notably with a folio of soft-ground etchings, Sydney Harbour (1978) and a folio of 17 large lithographs, The Caloola Suite (1980). In 1987 Lloyd Rees re-visited Paris where the City of Paris awarded him the Medaille de la Ville de Paris, in recognition of his standing as an artist. In 1988 he was included in the Australian Bicentennial Authority’s exhibition, Two Hundred People Who Made Australia Great. He remained actively painting and drawing until his death in Hobart at the age of 93.

Sourced from McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art. Used with permission. Copyright: McCulloch and McCulloch.