Lees was an Australian landscape painter. He studied at Melbourne University, then in Paris and came to London in 1905 to study at the Slade School of Art. He was friends with Augustus John and John Dickson Innes.
Derwent Lees (1884-1931), Lyndra in the Garden,
Lyndra in the GardenOil on board
20 x 14 in (51 x 36 cm)
Lees was born in Hobart, Australia, moving to London in 1905. He was a friend of Augustus John and James Dickson Innes, working with them in Wales and at Collioure in France. He was the only Australian artist represented at the 1913 Armory Show in New York, the first large scale exhibition of modern art in America.
Lees married Edith, known as Lyndra, in 1913. She had been a frequent model of Augustus John’s.