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| c1953 Self Portrait with Etching Equipment drypoint and roulette 13.6 x 21.5 cm (plate) |
Martin Lewis was an Australian-born American painter and printmaker best known for his representation of urban and pastoral landscapes. he artist’s work possessed an eerie quality, underscored by a subtle noir effect used to depict the city at night and occasionally urban crime.
Born in 1881 in Castlemaine, he studied at the Art Society’s School in Sydney under Julian Rossi Ashton, and English-born teacher. Lewis later worked in newspaper illustration. He moved to San Francisco, California in 1900, where he worked as a decorative stage painter for William McKinley’s Presidential campaign.
In 1920 he travelled to Japan to study traditional printmaking, returning to the United States two years later. Between 1925 and 1935 he produced some of his best-known prints. Lewis died in 1962 in New York. Today his works are represented in collections at the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.
For more information on Martin Lewis see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 & 2 also.
This is part 3 of a 4-part series on the works of Martin Lewis:
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| 1927 The Boyfriends drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on wove paper 25.1 x 20.3 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| c1927 Man Wearing Glasses drypoint printed in black ink on wove paper 14.9 x 11.1 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| c1927 Office Scene drypoint printed in black ink on laid paper 17.1 x 14.9 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| c1927 Sporting Gentleman drypoint and etching printed in black ink on laid paper 15.2 x 12.7 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| c1927 Three People near an Excavation etching printed in black ink on laid paper 21.3 x 11.1 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1928 East Side Night, Williamsburg Bridge etching on cream laid paper 25 x 30.2 cm (plate) Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1928 Fifth Avenue Bridge drypoint 25.3 x 30.3 cm (plate) |
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| 1928 Ice Cream Cones drypoint and sandground 24 x 37.8 cm (plate) |
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| 1928 Rain on Murray Hill drypoint printed in green-black ink on wove paper 20 x 30.2 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1928 Relics drypoint printed in black ink on laid paper 30.2 x 25.1 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1928 Shadows, Garage at Night drypoint printed in black ink on laid paper 25.1 x 30.2 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1928 Under the Street Lamp etching printed in black ink on laid paper 37.8 x 23.8 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1928c Head and Shoulders of a Man looking left etching printed in black ink on wove paper 14.9 x 10.2 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1929 Bay Windows (Snowy Day - Lexington Avenue) drypoint, sandpaper ground, on paper 30.3 x 20.1 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1929 Building a Babylon, Tudor City, N.Y.C. drypoint printed in black ink on wove paper 32.7 x 20 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI. |
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| 1929 Down to the Sea at Night drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on laid paper 20.3 x 33 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1929 Glow of the City drypoint on paper 29.1 x 36.6 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1929 Oncoming Rain drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on laid paper 20.3 x 25.4 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1929 Quarter of Nine--Saturday's Children etching on paper 25.1 x 32.7 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1929 Study for "Building a Babylon, Tudor City, N.Y.C." blue and white conté crayon on brown paper 31.4 x 20.3 cm |
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| 1929 Untitled (Smokestack, New York, Queensboro Bridge) coloured pencil and chalk on brown paper 29.5 x 24.1 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1929 Wet Saturday drypoint 25.2 x 26.5 cm (plate) |
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| c1929 Faces charcoal, watercolour, and pen and ink on white wove paper 26.7 x 34.6 cm |
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| c1929 Madison Avenue and 34th Street coloured pencil on light orange wove paper 31.4 x 24.1 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| c1929 Silhouette in NY Window pastel and pigment 45.7 x 61 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1930 Arch, Midnight drypoint on paper 20.7 x 29.7 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1930 Break in the Thunderstorm drypoint on paper 31.4 x 25.2 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1930 Corner Shadows drypoint and sandground 21.3 x 22.6 cm (plate) |
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| 1930 Shadow Dance drypoint 24 x 27.7 cm (plate) |
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| 1930 Spring Night, Greenwich Village etching and drypoint on laid paper 25.1 x 31.1 cm (plate) |
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| 1930 Study for "Spring Night, Greenwich Village" black pen and ink and graphite pencil on wove paper 28.6 x 22.2 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1930 Stoops in Snow drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on wove paper 25.4 x 38.1 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1930 Subway Steps drypoint on paper 34.6 x 20.8 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1930 Study for "Subway Steps" graphite pencil on tan laid paper 30.5 x 22.9 cm |
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| 1930 Study for Subway Steps graphite pencil, black conté crayon, and light orange conté crayon on green laid paper 30.5 x 22.9 cm |
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| 1930 Tree, Manhattan drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on laid paper 32.7 x 25.1 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1930 Study for Tree, Manhattan black and white conté crayon on brown wove paper 33 x 25.4 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1930-36 Outside a Meeting Hall pencil on cream wove paper 24.7 x 34.8 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1930-36 View from Window, Waintree Hill, Sandy Hook, Connecticut pencil and coloured crayon on wove paper 45.1 x 30.2 cm |
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| c1930 Shadow Pattern coloured crayons on green wove paper 24 x 27.8 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1931 Cathedral Steps drypoint 26.5 x 42.5 cm (plate) |
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| 1931 Little Penthouse drypoint printed in black ink on laid paper 25.4 x 24.6 cm (plate) |
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| 1931 Manhattan Lights drypoint printed in black ink on laid paper 40.3 x 23.8 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1931 Rainy Day, Queens drypoint 27 x 30.1 cm (plate) |
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| 1931 Snow on the "El" drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on wove paper 35.6 x 22.9 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1931 Study for Snow on the "El" pencil on brown-grey laid paper 29.8 x 22.9 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1932 Cronies aquatint printed in black ink on blue-green laid paper 24.1 x 27.6 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1932 H'anted drypoint, sandpaper ground, on paper, 33.8 x 22.8 cm (plate) Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1932 Night in New York etching on cream laid paper 21.5 x 22.4 cm (plate) Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1932 Two a.m. drypoint and sandpaper ground printed in black ink on wove paper 22.5 x 37.8 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1932 Which Way? aquatint printed in black ink on wove paper 26.4 x 40.3 cm (plate) Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |