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Martin Lewis (1881–1962) was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia on 7 June 1881. He was the second of eight children and had a passion for drawing. At the age of 15, he left home and traveled in New South Wales, Australia, and in New Zealand, working as a pothole digger and a merchant seaman. He returned to Sydney and settled into a Bohemian community outside Sydney. Two of his drawings were published in the radical Sydney newspaper, The Bulletin.〔The Old Print Shop, New York〕 He studied with Julian Ashton at the Art Society's School in Sydney. Ashton, a famous painter, was also one of the first Australian artists to take up printmaking.〔The Old Print Shop, New York〕 In 1900, Lewis left Australia for the United States. His first job was in San Francisco, painting stage decorations for William McKinley's presidential campaign of 1900.〔jean Lewis, Thinking About Art〕 By 1909, Lewis was living in New York, where he found work in commercial illustration. His earliest known etching is dated 1915. However, the level of skill in this piece suggests he had been working in the medium for some time previously.〔The Old Print Shop, New York〕 It was during this period that he helped Edward Hopper learn the basics of etching. In 1920, after the breakup of a romance,〔Bruce Museum, Greenwich CT〕 Lewis traveled to Japan, where for two years he drew and painted and studied Japanese art. The influence of Japanese prints is very evident in Lewis's prints after that period.〔jean Lewis, Thinking About Art〕 In 1925, he returned to etching and produced most of his well-known works between 1925 and 1935〔The Old Print Shop, New York〕 Lewis's first solo exhibition in 1929 was successful enough for him to give up commercial work and concentrate entirely on printmaking. Lewis is most famous for his black and white prints, mostly of night scenes of non tourist, real life street scenes of New York City.〔jean Lewis, Thinking About Art〕 During the Depression, however, he was forced to leave the city for four years between 1932 and 1936 and move to Newtown, Connecticut. When Lewis was able to return to the New York City in 1936, there was no longer a market interested in his work. He died largely forgotten.〔The Old Print Shop, New York〕 Lewis's print, ''Shadow Dance'', sold for $50,400 at the ''Scenes of the City: Prints, Drawings & Paintings of New York 1900–2000'' auction in New York on October 2010, setting a record price for the artist at auction.〔Swann Galleries, New York〕 The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, staged an exhibition of Martin Lewis prints in October 2011 drawn from the collection of Dr. Dorrance Kelly. The Bruce Museum said of Lewis: "Recognized as one of the premier American printmakers of the first half of the 20th century, Martin Lewis left an indelible mark on the landscape of the art world. Lewis was an acknowledged master of the intaglio techniques of printmaking, experimenting with multiple processes including etching, aquatint, engraving and drypoint. A highly skilled printer, Lewis created magnificent impressions that captured the energy, bustle and occasional solitude of all aspects of city life in New York. With his remove o Connecticut in 1932, Lewis instigated another topic through his printmaking: country life. This firmly entrenched Lewis as a prominent America scene artist, who captured the intersection between the urban and rural environments and shed light on the slowly emerging suburban culture."〔Bruce Museum, Greenwich CT〕 ==External links== *(Martin Lewis ) References: 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Martin Lewis (artist)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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