Rupert Lee was an English painter, sculptor and printmaker. He was one of the organisers of the London International Surrealist Exhibition

London International Surrealist Exhibition

The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries in London, England.The exhibition was organised by:* Hugh Sykes Davies* David Gascoyne* Humphrey Jennings* Rupert Lee* Diana Brinton Lee...

 in 1936.

Rupert Lee was born in Bombay in 1887. Lee entered the Slade School of Art in 1911 where he became friendly with Robert Gibbings

Robert Gibbings

Robert Gibbings was an Irish artist and author who was most noted for his work as a wood carver and engraver and for his books on travel and natural history.-Life:...

 and Paul Nash

Paul Nash (artist)

Paul Nash was a British landscape painter, surrealist and war artist, as well as a book-illustrator, writer and designer of applied art. He was the older brother of the artist John Nash.-Early life:...

. Soon after leaving the Slade he was employed by Edward Gordon Craig

Edward Gordon Craig

Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...

 to be his musical director at his theatre school in Italy, but the position was cut short by the outbreak of the First World War. Lee served with the Queen's Westminster Rifles in the Machine Gun Corps and suffered shell shock following the March Retreat of 1918. The series of paintings and drawings he produced whilst serving in the Trenches showed him to be in sympathy with elements of Futurism

Futurism

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...

 and Vorticism

Vorticism

Vorticism, an offshoot of Cubism, was a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of the early 20th century. It was based in London but international in make-up and ambition.-Origins:...

.

Between 1919 and 1922 he collaborated closely with Paul and John Nash producing wood engravings for the Sun Calendar Yearbook and The Poetry Bookshop. At this period his paintings and wood engravings were bought by notable collectors such as Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett

- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...

, Roger Fry

Roger Fry

Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...

 and Edward Marsh.Turning his attention to sculpture during the 1920s - he was elected President of the London Group in 1927 and was responsible for organising the important open-air sculpture exhibition on the roof gardens of Selfridges in 1930. He was Chairman of the 1936 International Surrealist exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries and worked tirelessly to encourage the modern movement in England. Moving to Spain in 1946, Lee was killed in a motor accident in 1959. A major book about his life and work was published by Sansom and Co and a retrospective was staged at Gallery 27 in Cork Street in May 2010.