Biography
Born in London in 1883, despite an early engineering apprentice, Ihlee enrolled in Slade School of Fine Art in 1906, graduating three years later and receiving multiple prizes for his artwork. Success followed, with two exhibitions at the Carfax Gallery between 1912 and 1914. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Ihlee worked as an engineering draughtsman, though immediately returning to his art career after the ending of the war.
After achieving further exhibition successes in London, notably at the highly respected Leicester Galleries, Ihlee moved to Collioure, France, in 1921 with close friend and fellow artist, Edgar Hereford. Here they were to produce some of the pair’s finest and most iconic work, further teaming up with the famous designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whom both had know from their London art days.
Ihlee eventually did returned to England, where he died in 1968, aged 85.
A book about the life and works of Rudolph Ihlee, Rudolph Ihlee – the road to Collioure, by James Trollope was published in 2022 by Lund Humphries