Collector’s Corner: Roger Lee

Collector’s Corner: Roger Lee features the extraordinary Yixing teapot collection of art historian and cultural advocate Professor Roger Lee. Born in Vancouver with family roots in Victoria, Lee taught art history at the University of Regina for over three decades, all while shaping a cross-cultural perspective through his frequent travels between Canada and China. Lee began collecting Yixing teapots in the 1980s, drawn to their sculptural beauty porous clay, and central role in Chinese daily life. Through both personal heritage and a postmodernist lens, he explored these objects as vessels of artistry, memory, and philosophy.  

Featuring works from his private collection alongside his generous donation to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, this exhibition invites visitors to see Yixing teapots not just as functional objects, but as symbols of identity, cultural exchange, and the enduring dialogue between tradition and modernity. 

Roger Lee

Professor Roger Lee is a third-generation Chinese Canadian art historian whose life bridges continents and cultures. Born in Vancouver with family roots in Victoria, he studied art in Vancouver, Mexico, and France before teaching art history at the University of Regina for over 30 years. His frequent travels between Canada and China shaped a cross-cultural perspective that guided both his scholarship and collecting.