Lee W. Hughes

Lee W. Hughes (1930-2014)

No one loved the outdoors more than Lee Hughes. The New Jersey impressionist painter, happiest when painting en plein air, produced an enormous body of work over six decades.

Born in East Orange, Hughes served in Korea and Japan as a US Navy corpsman attached to
the Marines during the Korean War. When his tour of duty was over in 1953, he devoted
himself to a career as an artist. (He told me his first job was with an arborist and he had a
remarkable ability to identify any tree or shrub even from a very long distance!)

Most of his work, landscapes to marine to industrial subjects, was executed outdoors in Morris
and Somerset counties.

Noted as a colorist, Hughes defined his work by his exuberant brush strokes. His paintings
frequently have been likened to those of the European Impressionists for their contrasts of light
and shadow and bold use of color.

He loved to teach! He taught at the Newark School of Fine Arts and at art associations in
Morris and Somerset counties. He was one of my most favorite teachers at what was the
Somerset Art Association and now is called The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster,
NJ.