The sleeping square

In his lifetime, Sydney Lee (1866-1949) was widely acclaimed for his paintings and prints of landscapes and architectural subjects that he sought out in his travels around Britain and on the Continent. The last exhibition to showcase his work was staged in 1945, four years prior to the artist’s death. Since then, his stature has been reduced to little more than a footnote in the history of 20th-century British art. His works have never been catalogued and his many, varied contributions to printmaking have received scant appraisal.

The Colosseum in Rome; a mountain fortress high in the Swiss Alps; the city walls of Segovia and the Basilica de San Vicente at Avila; the limestone outcrops of Dovedale in the English Peak District; Sydney Lee travelled near and far in search of such varied and monumental subjects. He became known and acclaimed for his ‘studies of picturesque old buildings … rich in the patina and atmosphere of history’; but Lee was also a pioneer, an early exponent of wood engraving as a fine art medium, colour woodcuts in the Japanese manner, as well as tonal intaglio printmaking. A versatile painter-printmaker, he produced drypoints, aquatints, mezzotints, lithographs, wood engravings and woodcuts. Few artists working in Britain during the first quarter of the 20th century were in command of such a broad range of graphic media.

Lee was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers as well as numerous other professional bodies. His works are now represented – albeit rarely on view – in major museum collections from Australia and New Zealand to Canada and the USA. Yet despite his professional associations and the peer recognition he received in his lifetime, Lee never achieved lasting critical acclaim. The name he made for himself all but died with him. How could one of the ‘most versatile of artists associated with the Royal Academy’ so quickly fall into oblivion?

Lee was given well overdue attention and acclaim at an exhibition held at the Royal Academy and Aberystwyth University School of Art Gallery in 2013, with a catalogue by Robert Meyrick.

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This charming nocturnal aquatint/ mezzotint print depicts Sebastianplatz, in Brig, Switzerland. It is dominated by the 17th century Sebastiankapelle. The fountain has since been removed and the buildings on each side of the chapel have been replaced. Published in March 1928 by Colnaghi's, the print was reproduced in <em>Fine Prints of the Year</em> (1928). A related oil painting of the same title was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1927 (206).

See:

Robert Meyrick, <em>Sydney Lee, Prints: a Catalogue Raisonné</em> (London: Royal Academy, 2013), no. 167.

'Sydney Lee exhibition at the RA Aberystwyth', https://aberystwythuniversitycollections.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/sydney-lee-exhibition-at-the-ra-and-aberystwyth/

Wikipedia, 'Sydney Lee (engraver)', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Lee_(engraver)

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   November 2018