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.
Find original Martin Lewis prints and other art on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Allinson Gallery, Inc.)
Barns in the Helderberg, New York (rural 1930s American scene with vintage car)
By Martin Lewis
Located in New Orleans, LA
"Barns in the Helderberg, New York" by Martin Lewis shows neighbors (one in a Model T car) visiting outside a series of barns with a tree in the background...
Chalk, Charcoal
$250
H 10 in W 8 in
Chapel and houses along a lake, New England Landscape - American School, 19th C
Located in Middletown, NY
Watercolor and pencil on buff wove watercolor paper, 10 x 8 inches (255 x 203 mm). In good condition with overall minor toning. Some watercolor paint splatters on the verso, contem...
Watercolor, Pencil
$720Sale Price|20% Off
H 10.5 in W 8 in
Clinton Hill, (Nude #2), 1950, drawing, figure/abstraction
By Clinton Hill
Located in New York, NY
Clinton Hill (1922-2003), created quintessential mid-century images, but figures are unusual in his work. This is from a very early period. From 1949 to 1951 he attended the Brooklyn...
Gouache
$1,995
H 16.5 in W 22.25 in D 1.5 in
Estes Park Colorado American Modernist Watercolor Landscape Painting, WPA 1930s
By James Russell Sherman
Located in Denver, CO
Vintage 1930s watercolor and ink painting of Estes Park, Colorado, by American artist James Russell Sherman (1906-1989). This captivating work features a detailed view of storefronts...
Watercolor
$3,000
H 12 in W 19 in
"Central Park" Leon Dolice, New York Central Park Scene, Mid-Century
By Leon Dolice
Located in New York, NY
Leon Dolice Central Park Signed lower left Watercolor on paper 12 x 19 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the young ma...
Paper, Pastel
$5,500
H 28 in W 22 in
"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century Cityscape Modern
By Max Arthur Cohn
Located in New York, NY
"6th Avenue El" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century Cityscape Modern Max Arthur Cohn (1903-1998) 6th Avenue Elevated 19 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches Watercolor on paper Signed an...
Paper, Watercolor
$3,000
H 19 in W 12 in
"Empire State Building" Leon Dolice, New York City Street Scene, Mid-Century
By Leon Dolice
Located in New York, NY
Leon Dolice Empire State Building Signed lower right Watercolor on paper 19 x 12 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon th...
Paper, Pastel
$1,500
H 9 in W 12 in
Modernist Conte Crayon Drawing Beach Scene David Burliuk Russian Futurist
By David Burliuk
Located in Surfside, FL
David Burliuk (Ukrainian, 1882-1967) Three figure on the beach (Hamptons, Long Island New York) Conte crayon drawing on paper. Hand signed lower left. Unframed Provenance: Bloomsbury Auctions David Davidovich Burliuk (Дави́д Дави́дович Бурлю́к; 1882-1967) was a Russian poet, artist and publicist of Ukrainian origin associated with the Futurist and Neo-Primitivist movements. Burliuk has been described as "the father of Russian Futurism." David Burliuk was born on 21 July 1882 in the village of Riabushky (near Lebedyn, Ukraine) in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire. Burliuk's family was artistically inclined; two of his brothers were talented artists as well, Nikolai and Volodimir Burliuk. The Burliuk family partly descended from Ukrainian Cossacks on their father's side, who held premier positions in the Hetmanate. His mother, Ludmyla Mikhnevich, was of ethnic Belarusian descent. From 1898 to 1904, he studied at Kazan and Odesa art schools, as well as at the Royal Academy in Munich. His exuberant, extroverted character was recognized by Anton Azhbe, his professor at the Munich Academy, who called Burliuk a "wonderful wild steppe horse". During a time of significant industrialization and political change, movements such as the famed Der Blaue Reiter, a group Burliuk associated with in 1912, while he was in Munich, emphasized a shift away from the classical styles of the past, prioritizing the innovations of the future. In 1907, he made contact with the Russian art world; he met and befriended Mikhail Larionov, and they are both credited as being major forces in bringing together the contemporary art world. In 1908, an exhibition with the group Zveno ("The Link") in Kiev was organized by David Burliuk together with Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, Alexander Bogomazov, his brother Volodymyr (Wladimir) Burliuk and Aleksandra Exter. The exhibition was a flop, especially because they were all unknown painters. The Burliuks and Larionov left for the aforementioned brothers' home in Chernianka, also known as Hylea; it was during this stay that their work became more Avant-Garde. That autumn, while visiting Ekster, they organized an exhibition which took place in the street; it was a success, and enough money was raised to go to Moscow. In 1909, Burliuk painted a portrait of his future wife, Marussia, on a background of flowers and rocks...
Paper, Conté, Crayon
$5,500
H 21 in W 26 in
6th Avenue El at 8th St NYC Cityscape American Scene Social Realism Mid-Century
By Max Arthur Cohn
Located in New York, NY
6th Avenue El at 8th St NYC Cityscape American Scene Social Realism Mid-Century Max Arthur Cohn (1903-1998) 6th Avenue El at 8th Street 13 x 18 inches Watercolor on paper, c. 1930 ...
Paper, Watercolor
$165
H 12 in W 16 in D 0.13 in
Two 1940s Chicago Street Scenes, Studies for Fulton Street Market, Urban Realism
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Unique Offering of Two 1940s Chicago City Street Scenes, "Studies for Fulton Street Market" by Notable Chicago Modern Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Two related, boldly ex...
Paper, Charcoal
Fort Tryon Park
Located in Middletown, NY
Ink and wash in gray ink on buff wove paper, 13 1/4 x 15 inches (337 x 382 mm), the full sheet. Signed in pencil in the lower right margin. In good condition with a 2-inch horizontal...
Handmade Paper, Ink
$3,000
H 12 in W 19 in
"New York Harbor Nocturne" Leon Dolice, New York Harbor Scene Mid-Century
By Leon Dolice
Located in New York, NY
Leon Dolice New York Harbor Nocturne Signed lower right Pastel on paper 12 x 19 inches The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the...
Paper, Pastel
$4,750
H 18.5 in W 24 in
Riders Near Camel Rock Monument, Santa Fe, New Mexico Western Landscape
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887–1964) Riders Near Camel Rock Monument, Santa Fe, New Mexico, c. 1937 Watercolor on paper Monogram lower right, titled verso 14.5 x 20 inches 18....
Watercolor
Shadows -- Garage at Night
By Martin Lewis
Located in Plano, TX
Shadows -- Garage at Night. c. 1928. Conte crayon drawing. Study for the drypoint, McCarron 69. 10 1/8 x 12 3/4 (the drypoint measures 9 7/8 x 11 7/8). The drypoint is illustrated in...
Crayon