Lloyd Rees
Brisbane-born Lloyd Rees studied at the Brisbane Technical College in 1910 where F. Martyn Roberts taught him drawing. He was a full time art student in 1915 before moving to Sydney in 1917. Rees worked as a commercial artist with Smith & Julius Studios, where he developed his skills as a draughtsman. He made many trips to Europe, and was particularly inspired by the French and Italian countryside. In the 1930s he depicted landscapes showing light radiating from behind the hills and through the trees; and in the 1940s he went on to paint large open vistas.

From 1946 to 1986 Rees taught painting and drawing and lectured in art history at the School of Architecture at the University of Sydney, which gave him the freedom to paint without being concerned about sales. Rees became increasingly exuberant and experimental in his approach to painting and used lighter tones. In 1976 he began his first portfolio of prints, Memories of Europe, based on his recollections of earlier journeys. The following year he made a series of Australian landscape prints, depicting the mountains, cliff faces, rocks and valleys of Tasmania, New South Wales and Central Australia. In 1980 he made a series of lithographs, The Caloola Suite, named after his holiday house down the south coast of NSW at Werri Beach. When his eyesight began to decline in the 1980s, his new work became semi-abstract and based on memory.

Ref: Dr Anne Gray, Dictionary of Australian Artists