Schism

Details

Robert H Lee (b. 1915)
Schism
signed and dated 'LEE 49' (lower right on the centre panel)
oil on panel
11 x 14½ in. (28 x 36.8 cm.) central panel; 11 x 6¾ in. (28 x 17 cm.) right and left panels

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Born in Yorkshire, Lee attended Bradford College of Art and then won a place at the Royal College of Art 1937-40, where his teachers included John Nash and Edward Bawden.

The present work evokes the Crucifixion with the central Christ figure and the portraits of the penitent Magdalen on his right, and Mary, his mother, swathed in a blue veil, on his left. On the hillside the Cross is evoked by the symbolically shaped tree backlit by the moon.

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