'Breezy Day Lane Cove' by Lloyd Rees
Lloyd Rees AC CMG (1895 - 1988), artist, author and teacher, became well known as a young man for his meticulous, almost obsessively detailed, renderings of buildings around Brisbane. He had his first solo exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney in 1931. During trips to Europe in the 1920s, 1950s, 1960 and 1970s Rees was particularly struck by the countryside of Tuscany; over many decades his European and Australian landscapes, rendered in an unpretentious style combining careful analysis, immediacy and sensuality, won wide recognition from both the public and the art world. There was a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1942; other major retrospectives were held in 1969-70 and 1981. He was made Companion of the Order of Australia in 1985 and in 1987, the year his autobiography was published, he received the Medaille de la Ville de Paris in recognition of his standing as an artist. Rees was also a popular teacher at the University of Sydney from 1946 to 1970. He kept painting until his death in Hobart at the age of 93.
Excerpt taken from the National Portrait Gallery's website, retrieved September 2008.
One of Australia’s most highly regarded landscape artists, Lloyd Rees’ influential presence in the Australian art world has been strongly felt. With an artistic repertoire of high calibre consisting of paintings, drawings, etchings and lithographs, Rees’ landscapes came to be greatly celebrated for the way they encapsulated a deep affinity for the Australian landscape and the romantic ideal of the harmonious relationship between man and nature.
Excerpt
taken from Art
Education website, retrieved September 2008.
1995
'Lloyd
Rees Drawings, Centenary Retrospective', Art Gallery of NSW
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
'Lloyd Rees: Etchings and Lithographs', Art Gallery of NSW
'A Celebration of Lloyd Rees', University of Melbourne Gallery
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
'Lloyd Rees: Some Tasmanian Works', Fine Arts Gallery, University of Tasmania
1982
'Lloyd Rees: Late Drawings and Lithographs', Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
Lloyd Rees: The Printed Works', Art Gallery of Western Australia
1981
Lloyd Rees Survey, Drawings and Paintings 1918-1980', University of Melbourne
Gallery
1975
'A Tribute to Lloyd Rees', Queensland Art Gallery
1969
Retrospective, Art Gallery of NSW
1942
Loan exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW
1988 Included amongst the Australian Bicentennial Authority's 'Two Hundred people who made Australia Great'
1988 Sydney University Union Medal for services to art & to the University
1987 'Medialle de la Ville de Paris (Echelon Vermeil)
1987 Jack Manton Prize
1986 Inaugural Medal of the Painters and Sculptors Association of Australia
1985 Henry Lawson Australian Arts Award
1985 Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary Foundation
1985 Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
1984 Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Tasmania
1983 McCaughey Prize, Sydneyz
1982 Wynne Prize, with 'Morning on the Derwent'
1981 City of Bathurst, Honorary Citizenship Certificate
1981 Mosman Art prize
1979 Honorary Fellowship of Royal Australian Institute of Architects
1979 McCaughey Prize, Sydney
1977 Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael & St George (CMG)
1972 Tenth International Congress of Accountants Art Competition
1971 McCaughey Prize, Sydney
1971 Australian International Co-operation Art Award
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
All state galleries
Numerous regional galleries
University, corporate and private collections throughout Australia and overseas