Lines and Colors art blog

Martin Lewis, etching

Martin Lewis, etchings, drypoint, aquatint and engraving

Martin Lewis was an Australian/American printmaker, illustrator and painter active in the first half of the 20th century.

He is known primarily for his etchings of wonderfully evocative scenes of urban life, often focusing on the effects of artificial light in nighttime scenes.

In much of his work, shadows and areas absent of light play a role as important as objects and areas of light. The balance and play between them give his compositions a dynamic and visceral feeling of atmosphere and place.

Among his friends was Edward Hopper, who asked Lewis to teach him the fundamentals of etching.

[Via William Wray]


Comments

6 responses to “Martin Lewis”

  1. These are incredible! Do you know the title of the 3rd one (the woman on the roof with the clotheslines) or anything about how it was made? The darks and lights in that one are out of this world.

    1. I don’t have an official description, but to my eye it looks like an etching with aquatint.

  2. klasse…!……..great!

  3. Oh boy you hit on one of my favorites. I only discovered Lewis in the last couple years. It is always strange to me how many great artists are still relatively undiscovered, at least to the general consciousness, the public especially with the internet.
    Lewis was not only prolific but as good or better than many other ‘graphic’ artist/illustrators

  4. An excellent link to the artist’s works and biography at Allinson Gallery. He died largely forgotten in 1962.
    A modern Rembrandt in New York.

    http://www.allinsongallery.com/lewis/index.html