Timeline

Born in Bombay, Rupert Lee trained at the Royal Academy Schools and the Slade where he met and became friendly with Paul Nash.

Soon after leaving the Slade he was employed by Edward Gordon Craig, but the position was cut short by the outbreak of the First World War. Lee served in the Queen’s Westminster Rifles and suffered shell shock following terrible battle experience during the March Retreat of 1918.

Between 1919 and 1922 he collaborated closely with Paul and John Nash producing wood engravings for the Sun Calendar Yearbook and The Poetry Bookshop.

Turning his attention to sculpture during the 1920s - he was elected President of the London Group in 1926 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 tragically killed in a motor accident in 1959