Robert Henry Lee (1915-2007) was an artist-craftsman who worked in two and three dimensions, including sculpture, painting, collage, and wooden-framed structures, or ‘assemblages’, containing things he had made or found. His subject ranged was wide, spanning landscape, still-life, abstract, religious subjects, and portraits.
He was born in Bingley and attended Bradford College of Art, 1932-37, taking examinations in industrial design, drawing and pictorial design. He went onto study at the Royal College of Art, 1937-40; his tutors included John Nash, Edward Bawden, and Eric Ravilious.
Lee served in the Royal Artillery Signals during WW2 and was captured in the Western Desert and sent to Germany, where he witnessed the bombing of Dresden and was forced to bury the dead of Freital, a suburb of the city. Two hundred German civilians were killed, mostly women and children. This had a profound influence on his life. In 2003 he told a local journalist:
This was the most terrible event of my life engraved forever in my memory among a mass of horrific experiences.
After the war he returned to the Royal College of Art in 1946 for a fourth year, supported by a scholarship. When he graduated he taught art at Hammersmith College of Art before returning to Yorkshire to work at Heckmondwike Grammar School and to lecture at Batley School of Art. He was appointed Deputy Head of the School of Art, 1957-1969. He moved to Bingley College of Education as Principal Lecturer in Visual Arts, 1969-1979. He was also Part time visiting lecturer at Huddersfield Polytechnic, Bretton College and Bradford and Ilkley College. 1980-2005.
A local student, Victoria Fattorini, remembered his classes:
‘He was a marvellous teacher … I attended Robert’s art classes in Ilkley in the 1980s, they were a mixture of life drawing sessions and illustrated lectures. His passion for Bonnard, Chardin and Schwitters always stayed with me. I can hear his voice if I spot one in a gallery.
Between 1950–1970s he was a regular contributor to exhibitions in Yorkshire, including Yorkshire Artists Exhibition, Leeds City Art Gallery; Spring Exhibition, Bradford City Art Gallery (Cartwright Hall); and Wakefield City Art Gallery.
Portrait of Lucy. Image: from a private collection.
Pastel drawing: Portrait of Victoria. Image: in a private collection.
In 1991 he was afforded a retrospective show at Bretton Hall and in the same year Robert and two friends returned to the Freital graveyard, which was now overgrown with trees and flowers. He was inspired to paint ‘The Resurrection’, showing people living among the trees. During 1996-7 he worked on the sculpture, ‘An Angel for Dresden’, carved in lime wood, which he donated to the Frauenkirche, or St Paul’s of Dresden.
‘The Angel of Dresden’
In 2007 the people of Dresden awarded Robert a medal and certificate in thanks and honour for his work on the ‘Angel’. The medal was collected in Dresden and accepted on his behalf by his wife Thelma (shown below) and daughters, Vanessa, Joanna and Saskia.
Kirklees Museums and Galleries and The Second World War Experience Centre, Horsforth, near Leeds, hold examples of his paintings and other works are held in Yorkshire Schools Collections at Leeds, Hull, and Bretton Hall. The Lawrence Batley Centre at Bretton Hall had a retrospective show of his work in 1991, and in 2009 Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax, staged a major posthumous retrospective of his work.
Outside Yorkshire, work in School Collections include those at Hampshire, and Hertfordshire (St Albans). Many of his paintings and other work are now in private collections worldwide. The Tate Gallery purchased one of his works in 1991 for their Contemporary Crafts Collection.
‘Whitby Harbour’. Image: Kirklees Museums and Galleries