Sheffield artist and former teacher with “creative energy” dies aged 93
A beloved Sheffield artist has died at the age of 93 in Spain.
A painter who spent three decades of his life teaching art in Sheffield has died.
Terry Lee was 93-years-old when he passed away at his home in Alicante, Spain where he spent the last chapter of his life with his wife, Pamela Firth.
He was born in 1932 in Yorkshire and discovered his passion for the creative industries at Sheffield College of Art in 1953, where he later progressed his talents to the Slade School of Arts in 1955.
In Terry’s early years, he was associated with the “Kitchen Sink” painters, a British social realist movement where a group of painters focused on the realities of post-war British life.
Their work depicted modest domestic scenes, urban landscapes, and working-class interiors.
In the years that followed, his work was changing and became more figurative, lyrical and contemplative - influenced by landscape, music and literature.
His success came with inclusion in art critic John Berger’s “Looking Forward” exhibition in 1956 and prize-winning entries in successive John Moore’s exhibitions.
Terry’s creative energy to paint continued and throughout five decades he produced successive collections of work, notably exhibiting at The New Art Centre from 1960, Agnew’s, one of London’s leading art dealers, and The Picadilly Gardens, throughout the 1970s.
The 1980s saw inclusion in The British Art Show curated by critic William Packer and a series of exhibitions in Maestricht, Holland. A retrospective exhibition of work took place at The Wildenstein Gallery in 1992.
Whilst he was at the Slade school, he met fellow Sheffield artist Rosie Peters, who he married before returning to the Steel City from London. Then, the couple eventually settled in a dilapidated farmhouse at Calton Houses near Chatsworth in Derbyshire.
It was here where they raised four sons, Adam, Daniel, Dominic and Jeremy. During this time, he taught at Sheffield College of Art and eventually became Head of Fine Art.
But beyond painting, Terry also loved the hills. He was a rock climber and his passion for this was reflected in his work, taking inspiration from Heinrich Harrer’s book “The White Spider”, detailing the early attempts to climb the Eiger’s infamous North Face in Switzerland.
This passion was passed onto his sons who he took on climbing trips to local Derbyshire “crags”, which are steep, rugged hills and mountains. Terry also took them to North Wales, the Dolomites, France and latterly Spain.
In the early 90s, Terry met artist Pamela Firth, who he later married, but experienced a tragedy when his eldest son, Adam died - the years followed were difficult and clouded for the artist.
The last chapter of his life was lived out in the mountainous beauty and solitude of Spain’s Costa Blanca, where both he and Pam continued to paint there - taking inspiration from the landscape full of light.
Terry is survived by Pam, Rosie, his three sons Daniel, Dominic and Jeremy, and wider family.