Wellington Lee was born in China and flourished as a photographer in New York City. He was also a paper son. His Social Security application (transcribed at Ancestry.com) revealed his various names: We Lun Lee, February 1946; Wellington Lee, April 1952; Wellington Lee Leong, April 30, 2001. Wellington Leong, August 8, 2001. The application had Lee’s birth date as March 28, 1922, which was a year earlier than the date on his World War II draft card. The Social Security Death Index and his veteran’s file have the date November 28, 1923. Lee celebrated his 80th birthday in 1998, not 2002 or 2003. Lee’s actual birth date was in a short profile in the eight-page pamphlet, Wellington Lee Photographic Biography.
Wellington Lee was born in May 12, 1918 in Hoiping, Guangdong, China. An USA citizen, moved to the USA in 1935. Started interested in photography in 1937. Attended professional photographic courses in New York School of Art & Design [previously known as the School of Industrial Art] in 1939 and graduated in 1943, received school’s highest award in Graduation Ceremony. Drafted in the USA Army in World War II as official photographer for 3 years. While in the Army, had trained special photographic courses in USA Signal Corps and had taken correspondence photographic courses from the University of Michigan. After discharged from the Army, worked in Jons Fashion Studio, New York City for 3 years and in Rick Fashion Studio for one year. Opened the Wellington Lee Studio in Chinatown, New York City in 1950 for business and retired in 1977.“We Lun Lee” began his journey to America in Hong Kong. He was aboard the steamship Empress of Russia when it departed on December 13, 1935. The manifest (line 6) said the 14-year-old was born in “Toi Shan, China”. His parents were Lee Bing Lam and Hom Shee. The ship arrived at the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on December 30, 1935.
Lee traveled by train to Halifax, Nova Scotia where he boarded the ship Aurania (line 5). It departed on January 13, 1936 and arrived at the port of New York two days later.
Lee was interviewed by immigration officials and approved for admission. A Certificate of Identity was issued on February 28, 1936. The manifest said his paper father lived in Manhattan at 1401 Broadway.
In 1939 Lee was accepted at the School of Industrial Art, a visual arts high school in Manhattan. In the 1940 United States Census, Lee has not been found but he lived in the Bronx.
Lee was mentioned in The New York Times, March 2, 1942.
High School Art on Display TodayLee’s photograph, of Atlas at Rockefeller Center, was printed in Popular Photography, July 1942. The magazine said photographs by Lee and three others would tour at Telenews theaters in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Oakland, and Seattle.
Prizes were announced yesterday in the second Regional High School Art Exhibit, which will be opened to the pubic today on the fifth floor of R. H. Macy & Co. this show is a part of the Fifteenth Annual High School Art Exhibition co-sponsored by the department store and Scholastic Magazine. ...
Photography
Group II—... Wellington Lee, School of Industrial Art, Manhattan.
Lee entered Popular Photography’s 1942 Picture Contest and received an honorable mention.
On June 30, 1942, Lee signed his World War II draft card. His address was 1563 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. Lee’s birth date was March 28, 1923. His paper father lived in Baltimore, Maryland.
On June 30, 1942, Lee signed his World War II draft card. His address was 1563 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. Lee’s birth date was March 28, 1923. His paper father lived in Baltimore, Maryland.
The back of the draft card said Lee “signs name as Wellington Lee in school as student”. Lee graduated in 1943. Under his yearbook photograph it read: Lee, Wellington. Photo. 1563 So. Blvd. Bx. Pose, please.
Lee enlisted in the Army on July 15, 1943. His self-portraits, as a soldier, appeared on the cover and page 77 of The Camera, January 1945.
Lee’s veteran’s file said he was discharged on January 27, 1946.
The Camera, December 1946, featured four photographs by Lee to illustrate the article, “Reticulation: Friend or Foe?”
The Camera, December 1946, featured four photographs by Lee to illustrate the article, “Reticulation: Friend or Foe?”
Lee began his return to China, to find a wife, on March 30, 1947. On December 30, 1947, he married Foy Fong Der at 25 Fook Hing Road, Shameen, Canton, China. The marriage certificate had his Bronx address and photograph of the couple.
The newlyweds were aboard the ship General William H. Gordon when it departed Hong Kong on January 22, 1948 (lines 28 and 29). They arrived in San Francisco on February 9, 1948. Their destination was the Bronx.
The Photographic Society of America’s publication, PSA Journal, May 1948, listed Lee as a member: Lee, Wellington, c/o H. Lee Laundry, 1563 Southern Blvd., Bronx 60, N. Y.
Lee’s color photograph was awarded first prize and featured on the cover of Popular Photography, October 1948. Technical information described here.
Popular Photography, March 1949, featured three Lee photographs: “Abstract Girl” (cover), “After Practice” (page 86) and “Teamwork” (page 95).
Lee didn’t know his “Teamwork” photograph won a $5,000 prize. Popular Photography, April 1949, told how Lee found out. Popular Photography, May 1949, published a photograph of Lee accepting his trophy.
In 1949 Lee was one of the seven founders of The Photographic Society of New York, located in Chinatown at 31 Division Street.
As recorded in the 1950 census, “Lee Roy Lung” (line 24), his wife and two children, lived with his father, “King Lung”, in the Bronx at 1563 Southern Boulevard. Lee operated a hand laundry. I believe the census enumerator heard Leong as Lung. Evidently this was the first record to have Lee’s real family name.
Lee used the prize money to open a studio in Chinatown at 44 Mulberry Street. Lee’s new studio was reported in many newspapers including The Dispatch
(Moline, Illinois), June 23, 1950.
Popular Photography, July 1950, featured a story and photographs of Lee and his studio. Lee sold prints of his work and produced portraits.
Studio portraits in Chinese-American Times
In September 1950, Lee won First Award at the second annual National Chinese Photographic Exhibition.
Popular Mechanics Press published How to Take Better Photographs (1954) which included the chapter, “Faces and Figures”, by Lee.
Popular Mechanics Press published How to Take Better Photographs (1954) which included the chapter, “Faces and Figures”, by Lee.
The Wellington Lee Award was established in 1962.
In 1968 Lee published his book, Artistic Photography. On page 156 he said in part:
The collection of pictures in this book represents the cross section of my invocational works between the years of 1939 and 1968. They are done purely for the sake of photographic art and the continuation of experiment for some new techniques. In the early days, traditional techniques were generally used and more recently experimental techniques, ... were used. ...
My favorite subject matters are ballet dancers and figure studies, which have attractive physical forms, provide artistic and beautiful poses, and perform meaningful and graceful movements. With more time and concentration on these subject matters, naturally I have more and better pictures of them.
I have used not all but only 50 of my award winning pictures in this book. However these pictures and together with some others have provided me the opportunity and means to attain some satisfactory records, such as receiving more than one thousand awards, including trophies, plaques, medals and others and over six thousand acceptances of monochrome, color prints and color slides in the international exhibitions. ...
Title page Chinese name 梁光明: Leung Gwong Ming
(Cantonese) and Liang Guang Ming (Mandarin)
Lee was profiled in Alva L. Dorn’s column, Photo Hobbying, which appeared in many newspapers on November 29, 1970.
A pamphlet commemorating Lee’s 80th birthday was published in 1998.
A pamphlet commemorating Lee’s 80th birthday was published in 1998.
Lee passed away on May 31, 2001. The Social Security Death Index said his last residence was Flushing, New York. Lee was laid to rest at Green-Wood Cemetery.
• Some websites have Lee’s full name as Wellington Chung-Hsi Lee. At Ancestry.com, there was a person with that name who was born on November 25, 1935. He married Ying Y. Liang on March 25, 1966. His draft card said he was born in Hunan, China, and a teacher in Buffalo, New York. In Connecticut he was naturalized on May 10, 1974.
After the Photo-Secession: American Pictorial Photography, 1910–1955 (1997)
The Stylized Figure Studies of Wellington Lee
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(Next post on Wednesday: Finding Rey Scott the “Kukan” Cameraman)
