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 JW, was a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club in the 1860s [#12968].

In 1861 both Lewis and JW 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). JW's etchings The Punt (K.85a) and Sketching, No.1 (K.86a) were both printed on 1 December 1861 (Plates 7 and 45). The Punt (K.85a), then called The Angler, illustrated John Hamilton Reynold's The Angler's Soliloquy. Sketching, No.1 (K.86a), 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 JW 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.