Arthur James Lewis, 1824-1901
Nationality: English
Date of Birth: 1824
Identity:
Arthur James Lewis was a London landscape and portrait painter, and illustrator.
Life:
Between 1848 and 1893 Lewis was active as an exhibitor in London at the Royal Academy, British Institution, Grosvenor Gallery and New Gallery, as well as at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool and Manchester City Art Gallery. A typical work is his Far Away on the Hills - Scene in Arran, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881. Lewis, like Whistler, was a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club in the 1860s [#12968].
In 1861 both Lewis and Whistler contributed etchings to Passages from Modern English Poets (London: Day & Son, 1862) Lewis contributed A Spring Morning, Spring in the Meadows, The Mountain Stream, The Cornfield and The Path through the Forest (Plates 20, 20, 23, 36 and 39 respectively). Whistler's etchings The Punt 082 and Sketching 083 were both printed on 1 December 1861 (Plates 7 and 45). The Punt 082, then called The Angler, illustrated John Hamilton Reynold's The Angler's Soliloquy. Sketching 083, then called A River Scene, illustrated Charles Mackay's poem of the same name (#02138).
An Arthur Lewis is listed as a founding member of the Arts Club from 1863 to 1901. However, his dates are given as 1828-1901, with his date of birth given as 1828, not 1824. He is described as a promoter of the Junior Etching Club of which Whistler was an early member.
Bibliography:
Wood, Christopher, Dictionary of Victorian, Woodbridge, 1971; Johnson, J., and A. Gruetzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 198; Records of The Arts Club, London.