Little Penthouse.

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Martin Lewis
Little Penthouse.
1931

About the Item

Drypoint, 1931. Signed in pencil. Edition 75, recorded impressions 84. Image size 9 7/8 x 6 13/16" (25.2 x 17.3 cm). McCarron #91. Very good condition. Framed. This print was commissioned for inclusion in the deluxe edition of American Etchers, Vol. XI: Martin Lewis. It was published in an edition of 75 by the Crafton Collection in New York and distributed by P. D. Colnaghi in London. The edition of 75 was delivered to the Crafton collection in 1931. There were 9 proofs, several prior to steel facing and several after. There are no recorded sales at Kennedy Galleries during the artist's lifetime, as the edition was given to another publisher. Martin Lewis is considered one of the great chroniclers of urban life. His ability to capture adverse weather conditions and obscure light sources, coupled with a keen sense of composition and technical skill, made him one of America's greatest printmakers of the twentieth century. His earliest etchings date from 1915; however, these prints show a technical ability above that of most beginner printmakers. He was known for destroying prints and plates that he found objectionable; therefore, it is possible that he made prints earlier and discarded them. He produced over 147 drypoints, etchings, mezzotints, aquatints, and lithographs between 1915 and 1953. As an artist, his first success was as a watercolorist, but he also worked in oil. Lewis' sophisticated compositions enabled him to move to the next level in his artistic career. Kennedy Galleries gave him his first one-artist show in 1927 featuring his watercolors. The first show was a great success, and the gallery invited him to have a second show in 1928 which featured his prints. The prints were an immediate success. He sold out many editions within short periods of time. One print, Relics, was so popular that the edition was sold out in four months at $28 each. A month later the gallery sold a trial proof of Relics for $100, almost four times the original price. Lewis did not want to be associated with any art movement of the period, but that is not to say he did not know and socialize with other artists. One close friend, Edward Hopper, asked him for technical advice on etching. He along with two other artist friends, Armin Landeck and George Miller, founded a printmaking school in the early 1930's. Because of the depression, the school failed soon after opening. Lewis continued to have success with his prints until the beginning of WWII. After the war, the American art market changed with the importing of many European avant-garde artists. Most American artists of the 1920's and 1930's found it difficult to make a living with their work during this time. In 1944 he began teaching printmaking at the Art Students League where he remained until 1952 when health-related issues forced him to resign. His work at the league and a commission in 1947 to paint portraits for the Dudley Nichols film, Mourning Becomes Electra, were his primary sources of income during the last twenty years of his life. He worked regularly in his in the studio until his death in 1962; however, his last print was produced in 1953.

Creator:
Martin Lewis (1881-1962, American, Australian)
Creation Year:
1931
Dimensions:
Height: 18.38 in (46.69 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
Medium:
Drypoint
Movement & Style:
American Realist
Period:
1930-1939
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: 585-41stDibs: LU3312817673

Shop All Martin Lewis

Martin Lewis

Martin Lewis was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, on June 7th, 1881. He was the second of eight children and had a passion for drawing.

At the age of 15, Lewis 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. He studied with Julian Ashton at the Art Society's School in Sydney. Ashton was an English-born Australian artist and teacher known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney.

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. 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. It was during this period that he helped Edward Hopper learn the basics of etching.

In 1920, after the breakup of a romance, 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. In 1925, he returned to etching and produced most of his well-known works between 1925 and 1935. 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. During the Depression, however, he was forced to leave the city for four years between 1932 and 1936 and move to Newtown, Connecticut. His work from this period includes a number of rural, night-time, and winter landscape scenes in this area.

Lewis returned to Manhattan in 1936 and continued to etch and paint. He taught printmaking at the Art Students League of New York from 1944 until his retirement in 1952. Now he is considered one of the most important American printmakers of the twentieth century.

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(Biography provided by Allinson Gallery, Inc.)