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Ad Code: 3
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"The Widow"
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  An American Scene* painter of realistic subjects in a style that
combined Realism* and Modernism*, Doris Lee settled in Woodstock, New York,
having followed her teacher and husband, Arnold Blanch. Her
subject matter reflects her Midwestern heritage as well as big-city
industrial scenes and shows her wide-ranging quest for a national
identity, which was typical of many of her peers in the 1930s.
In 1935, she got national attention for her painting, Thanksgiving,
which, painted in a carefree naive manner, showed a kitchen scene of
bustling, humorous activity. The work won the Logan Purchase
Prize at the Art Institute of Chicago*, but Mrs. Logan, the sponsor of
the contest, was so angered by the choice that she launched a campaign
calling for sanity in art. However, the painting proved to be
very popular and was reproduced many times as postcards and prints.
Lee
was born in Aledo, Illinois, and grew up in a well-ordered domestic
environment with women making quilts and pursuing other craft-oriented
activities. She graduated from Rockford College, Illinois in 1927
and then studied at the Kansas City Art Institute* with impressionist
Ernest Lawson and in Paris with cubist Andre L'Hote. Early in her
career, she married photographer Russell Lee, a relationship that
terminated. In 1930, she studied in San Francisco with Arnold
Blanch, whom she married in 1939, and he was the major influence on her
signature style, encouraging her to work from nature and paint
real-life subjects.
In 1931, they moved to Woodstock, New York
where she was active in the local art association and found inspiration
of her paintings of local scenes. She remained there until her
death in 1983, but she also spent much time in Key West Florida
Four
years later, she won two mural commissions of a contest sponsored by
the United States Post Office department and completed works that were
very much a part of the prevalent American Scene painting. She
also completed illustrations for Life magazine, won the Carnegie Prize in 1944, and co-authored a book with her husband titled It's Fun to Paint.
Source:
American Women Artists by Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein
* For more in-depth information about
these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary
http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx
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Biography from Blake Benton Fine Art, Artists L - O:
| Doris
Emrick Lee, painter and illustrator, was born in Aledo, IL, on Feb.
1, 1905. Lee was the daughter of a merchant-banker, and she was
the fourth
in a family of six children. Her parents "regarded her
tomboyishness
with misgiving." They did not, however, object to her drawing,
and as
she recalls that her "grandmother used to whittle and carve in
wood.."
Her great-grandfather had retired from farming to paint.
She was
educated at Lake Forest, Illinois, and Rockford College, where she was
a student instructor in fine arts, and majored in philosephy.
Upon graduation she married Russell Werner Lee, a chemical engineer
from
Ottawa, Illinois. They went to Paris for five months and there
she
studied with Andre L'Hote. Returning to America, she continued
her art
study in Kansas City under Ernest Lawson, a Social Realist and
member of "The Eight", a group of painters associated with the Ashcan
group. Lee later studied at the San Francisco School of Fine Art
under
Arnold Blanch.
An American born scene painter whose "Exuberantly
Peopled Canvases of bucolic life are expressed the self-confidence and
gaiety of a painter who enjoys life, she had artistic style that bordered on
modernism.
Doris Lee has been included in many books on "modern art. In
1931, Lee settled in the Woodstock Artist Colony in Woodstock, New York
and continued to live there, dividing her time between her studio there
and New York's Fourteenth Street. She enjoyed the company of many of
the top artists in the country. She was an active member/exhibitor at
the Woodstock Art Association where her works are part of the permanent
collection. It was in Woodstock where Lee found the inspiration from
nature to paint her best works. Before painting a picture, Doris Lee
made many quick pencil sketches which she later used as notes in
working out paintings.
She was known for genre, portraits,
landscapes, trains, horses, birds and industrial city scenes. During
her life many prestigious institutions exhibited her works including
the Whitney Museum; Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; NY and San Francisco
World's Fairs; Association of American Artists and others. These works
often reflected her Midwestern heritage. The naive almost folksy manner
in which she painted made her popular among her contemporaries and
patrons as well.
She was a member of various art related organizations
including, An American Group; American Society of Painters; Sculptors
and Gravers and the Woodstock Art Association.
She died in 1983.
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| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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Doris Lee is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Women Artists
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