Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979)

Norman Lewis remained committed to community uplift throughout his career. In 163, Lewis co-founded the Spiral Group with Romare Bearden, Alston, and Hale Woodruff. Lewis' support of Black artists and the Civil Rights Movement continued as he produced his signature paintings and drawings. In 1969, he also opened the Cinque Gallery with Bearden and Ernest Crichlow to support young artists and curators and provide them with a platform to practice. From 1972 until his passing in 1979, Lewis continued to mentor young artists, teaching at the Art Students League of New York. Norman Lewis passed away in 1979; his work continues to be celebrated and remembered for its lively, dynamic, and facile handling of space, color, and history.

Title Unknown, 1955–1979, is an eye-catching work of abstraction by Lewis; showing dynamic interaction between alternating blue and red hues against a grained gray background. The dark lines outlining the edges of the color blocks trace the shape of Lewis' signature active figural compositions; a style found in many of Lewis’s works, including one of his most prominent canvases, Procession 1965. Lewis' processional compositions are a mainstay of the artist's oevre, constituting a profound example of Lewis' protest paintings. While the wider range of colors dominates the lower half of the canvas, the diminishing figures behind them gently merge with the pale atmosphere as if their existence is fading in society. Completed over the course of his storied career, this work represents Lewis’s ability for storytelling, and his penchant for creating a powerful artistic language that speaks through a timeless sphere.

Provenance

Private Collection

Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY

Exhibition History

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

Literature

Bill Hodges Gallery, Norman Lewis: A Painter's Odyssey 1935 - 1979, New York, 2009, illus. p. 27 Bill Hodges Gallery, Norman W. Lewis, et al., New York, 2017, illus. p. 25 Bill Hodges Gallery, Masterworks of the African Diaspora, New York, 2023, illus. p. 25

Title Unknown, 1955-1978

Oil on Canvas

37 1/4 x 62 ½ in. (94.6 x 158.8 cm)

Signed and Dated, Lower Left: NORMAN LEWIS 1955 – 1978