Martin Lewis
1881-1962

Martin Lewis was born in Australia in 1881. At the age of fifteen he left home and traveled through the countryside of both Australia and New Zealand, intent on making a career in art.  He lived briefly in an art colony near Sydney, and then received his only formal art training at the Art Society School in Sydney.  Lewis immigrated to the United States in 1900, landing in San Francisco and subsequently making his way across the country until he reached New York around 1909.

Lewis supported himself by working as a commercial artist, while also continuing to develop his own art.  Several of his prints and watercolors were shown at the gallery Kennedy & Company in the 1920s, but it was not until 1929, when Lewis had a solo exhibition at Kennedy, that he gained attention and acclaim from the New York art world.

Although he is remembered for his prodigious output as a printmaker, Lewis also created many watercolors and oils throughout his career.  Lewis was attracted to the culture of New York City’s working class; as a financially struggling artist for the first forty years of his life, it is most likely that he strongly identified with them.  The artist also concentrated on capturing ephemeral moments in New York, his best works are imbued with a sense of light and weather shifting as time passes.