Owen R. Lee (1918 - 2003) was an artist and teacher who was born in Christchurch and studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts under Archibald Nicoll, Cecil Kelly, Austen Deans and Bill Sutton. He also studied in Brittany in 1955. Although he specialised in capturing the atmosphere of natural scenes he also produced figure studies and woodcuts. He exhibited many times at the Paris Salon and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London) in 1962. He taught at a number of institutions, including Otago Polytechnic and Takapuna Grammar School in Auckland.

He won first prize in the Kelliher Awards in 1960, the figure studies prize in 1970 and 1971, and merit prizes in 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1968, and 1969. His sketches of historical buildings were published in Patterns of the Past.

His work is in Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru, Anderson Park Art Gallery, Invercargill, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington . Text: The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists, Painters, Printmakers, Sculptors, Kate McGahey