Born and educated in Illinois, artist Doris Emrick Lee (1905-1983) worked in a style known as regional realism in the 1930’s and 40’s, focusing on American folk subjects in works such as her now iconic Thanksgiving Dinner, from 1935. Before settling in New York with her second husband, Lee travelled in Europe and studied in Paris with Andre Lhote. His influence, and that of her friend Milton Avery, can be seen in the flattened landscapes and her stylized use of form and color to depict simple subjects about American life.
Lee’s works move between representation and stylized abstraction, often in the same work, sharing a visual sophistication with charm, wry humor and a light playfulness. Along with her husband, Arnold Blanch, she taught painting, and also worked as an illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post. Some of her work, particularly her drawings and prints, benefits from her talents as an illustrator, telling folk and rural American stories with a style that is easily approachable.
Lee is considered one of the most successful women artists of the Depression era and continued to have influence into the 1950’s and 1960’s. Her later work became abstract, combining elements of international styles, using broad strokes of color and geometry to fuse emotion and subject matter.
We are pleased to be offering several works by Doris Lee in our December 5th auction, including her paintings, Winter Scene and Table with Fruit, and lithographs, Reflections and Excursion.