Robert Lee Slater was born in Queens, New York, into a family of immigrants, his mother coming from Kharkiv in Ukraine and his father from Scotland. In World War II he served as an infantryman in the US army, participating in the D-Day landings in Normandy and earning a Bronze Star.

After the war Slater studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York, and for many years worked as an Illustrator, before becoming a dealer in primitive antiques. After he had retired, from 1980 to 1995 he turned his artistic talents to oil on canvas, eventually completed more than ninety works prior to his death in Suffern, New York.

For nearly two decades after his death his paintings disappeared, to be rediscovered, all together, in storage. The bulk of them came to auction with the Mason Auction Company in Nellysford, Virginia, in October 2014, where the works of this hitherto unknown artist sold remarkably cheaply. It is only recently that they have started to receive the attention – and value – they deserve.

We are very grateful to our Russian friend Yuri for introducing us to the work of this artist.