Tom E. Lewis (1909-1979)
Born: Los Angeles, CA
Studied: University of Southern California.
Member: California Water Color Society, San Francisco Art Association, Laguna Beach Art Association, The Progressive Painters of Southern California.
Tom E. Lewis was raised in Pasadena, and became interested in watercolor painting while studying architecture. During the late 1920s, he developed a unique style of painting with watercolors and in 1931, became a member of the California Water Color Society. Throughout the 1930s, Tome E. Lewis lived in Laguna Beach and was an active member of the art colony there. He also exhibited his watercolors regularly in Northern California museum shows, receiving several major awards and favorable reviews.
In 1941 he won first prize at the California Water Color Society annual show, he became the only artist to have won that honor twice. Adding to his national stature that year, he exhibited with over 300 American artists at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and his work, Prelude, was seen by a reviewer as "somewhere between Ryder and Vlaminck."
After 1950, Lewis lived in the San Francisco area and continued to produce fine art paintings.
Tom E. Lewis Biography information: Gordon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last - Author, California Watercolors 1850-1970, Illustrated History and Biographical Dictionary; Americian scene Painting California, 1930s and 1940s Edited by Ruth Lilly Westphal and Janet Blake Dominik