Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979)

Born to Bermudian parents in Harlem, New York in 1909, Norman Lewis was interested in the arts from a young age, studying drawing and commercial design in high school. In Harlem, Lewis was surrounded by opportunities for artistic inspiration. Lewis recounted one such instance in an interview: in his early years as an artist, he spent time observing Augusta Savage in his studio and watching him create art, which offered him tremendous support in confirming his passion for art without receiving any lessons on physical techniques. Lewis went on to study at the Teacher's College at Columbia University from 1933 to 1935. While in school, Lewis continued to engage socially by joining the 306 Group. Through both education and social events, Lewis met many artists, writers, collectors, and social activists in both Harlem and downtown. Co-founded by Charles Alston, the 306 Group is a community institution for exchanging ideas between social activists and artists.

One of the few heroically-scaled works Lewis composed in his lifetime; Exodus is a vibrantly dynamic, eye-catching example of the artist's ability to balance abstraction, storytelling, rhythm, and repetition. Like a congregation united in motion, the abstracted figures in Exodus seem to buzz in harmony; with electric yellows activated against a hazy, charcoal grey background. Notice the silhouettes of a crowd, whose stomping, abstracted feet and painted gestures towards wide-open eyes energize the rhythm of this composition. Norman Lewis, a pioneer of Abstract Expressionist art, is known for his artistic agility across mediums and dimension. At the onset of his career, his work was largely characterized as influenced by social realism. Like his contemporaries, Lewis saw art as an opportunity to directly engage with civil rights discourse of the time. However, as early as 1945, Lewis’ aesthetic became increasingly abstract, though his proclivity towards referencing dynamics facing the Black community never waned; evidenced in the organizing spirit at the forefront of Exodus. Although he passed in 1979, Lewis’ life’s work is only now beginning to receive proper recognition, celebrated for its lively, dynamic, and facile handling of space, color, and history.

Provenance

The Artist

The Artist’s Wife, Ouida B. Lewis, New York, NY Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Exhibition History

Norman Lewis: Black Pantings 1946-1977, 1 April – 20 September 1998, The Studio Museum, Harlem, NY

Norman Lewis: Black Pantings 1946-1977, 26 March – 27 June 1999, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

Norman Lewis: Black Pantings 1946-1977, (Start Date Unknown) – 3 October 1999, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH

Master Paintings: from 1943 - 1977, 15 May – 5 June 2004, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis, 13 November 2015 – 3 April 2016, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis, 4 June – 21 August 2016, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX

Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis, 17 September 2016 – 8 January 2017, Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibit Hall, Chicago, IL

Selections from the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair, 3 September – 17 October 2020, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Norman Lewis: Shades of Blackness, 18 November 2021 – 29 January 2022, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

On the Wall, 22 September – 15 October 2022, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

BLOCKBUSTER, 27 October – 14 January 2023, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Literature

The Studio Museum In Harlem, Norman Lewis: Black Pantings 1946-1977, New York, 1998, Plate 22, illus. p. 84

Bill Hodges Gallery, 25 Highly Important Paintings by Norman Lewis, New York, 1998, illus. p. 50

Bill Hodges Gallery, Norman Lewis: A Painter's Odyssey 1935 - 1979, New York, 2009, illus. p. 19

Ruth Fine et al., Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis, Univ. of California Press, 2015, Plate 49, illus. p. 96

Bill Hodges Gallery, Norman W. Lewis, et al., New York, 2017, illus. p. 7

Bill Hodges Gallery, Norman Lewis: Shades of Blackness, New York, 2021, illus. p. 11

Exodus, 1972

Oil on Canvas

72 x 88 ½ in. (182.9 x 224.8 cm)

Signed and Dated, Lower Right: Norman Lewis 72

Titled and Dated on Reverse: 72 – Title “Exodus"