Norman Lewis (artist)

Norman Lewis
Norman Lewis, Self-Portrait, 1939
Born	(1909-07-23)July 23, 1909 Harlem, New York
Died	August 27, 1979(1979-08-27) (aged 70)
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting
Movement	Abstract expressionism

Norman W. Lewis (July 23, 1909 – August 27, 1979) was an American painter, scholar, and teacher. He is associated with Abstract Expressionism who also used representational strategies to focus on black urban life and his community's struggles. Lewis was African-American, of Bermudian descent.

Norman Wilfred Lewis was born in Harlem, New York to Bermudian parents. Always interested in art, he had amassed a large art history library by the time he was a young man. A lifelong resident of Harlem, he also traveled extensively during the two years that he worked on ocean freighters. An important early influence was the sculptor and teacher Augusta Savage, who provided him with open studio space at her Harlem Community Art Center. He also participated in WPA art projects, alongside Jackson Pollock, among others.

Lewis began his career in 1933, with earlier mostly figurative work. He at first painted what he saw, which ranged from Meeting Place (1930), a swap meet scene, and The Yellow Hat (1936), a formal Cubist painting, to Dispossessed (1940), an eviction scene, and Jazz Musicians (1948), a visual depiction of the bebop that was being played in Harlem.

He also painted social realism, painting with "an overtly figurative style, depicting bread lines, evictions, and police brutality."

Lewis said he struggled to express social conflict in his art, but in his later years, focused on the inherently aesthetic. "The goal of the artist must be aesthetic development," he told art historian Kellie Jones, "and in a universal sense, to make in his own way some contribution to culture."

Norman Lewis was the only African- American artist among the first generation of Abstract Expressionists. As was expressed in the segment about him on the March 20, 2016 television show "Sunday Morning" (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/reappraising-the-art-of-norman-lewis/), his work was overlooked by both White and African-American art dealers and gallery owners. He did not fit into either category perfectly. As was recently noted in a catalogue accompanying a major retrospective of Lewis's paintings this omission seem clear enough.