Biography
Robert Wee was born in 1927 in Estherville, Iowa. After serving in the Navy, Wee attended the Art Institute of Chicago where he majored in drawing, painting and illustrating, graduating in 1951. After a career as a commercial illustrator, Wee moved to California in 1954 to create his own art. In the late 1980s, Wee moved from southern California to a home in the Sierra mountains.
Although known primarily as a seascape painter, Wee also expressed interest in mountain landscapes. Wee’s paintings are found in numerous corporate and private collections. His art works have been published in Prints Magazine and Southwest Art. In addition, he contributed to the books, How to Capture Movement in Your Paintings and How to Paint Water published by the North Light Book Club. Wee’s art is featured in numerous galleries in California. His paintings have been reproduced in many posters and prints which are also for sale in galleries on the west coast.
Wee typically paints in oil on masonite panels which allows him to work with a smooth surface. Building up the paint with palette knives and heavily loaded brushes.
Wee has said of his paintings that his goal is not to copy nature, but to interpret it. He has been quoted as saying,
“If I can give the viewer the same excitement I felt when I saw the subject, then I have produced a good painting.”
The paintings by Wee in the Fine Arts Collection were donated in 2003 by Luther alumnus, Walter Moe, in honor of his wife Barbara. Both are seascapes painted on masonite panels.
Source of Biography
www.chablisgallery.com; www.askart.com