Edmund Darch Lewis (October 17, 1835 – August 12, 1910) was an American

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

known for his prolific style and marine oils and watercolors. Lewis was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in a well-to-do family. He started training at age 15 with German-born Paul Weber (1823–1916) of the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

. At age 19 he exhibited at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, and was elected an Associate of the Academy at age 24.

Career

Lewis's early work in oil, because of his excellent training, was precocious and is considered technically superior to his later work. He traveled throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, painting river scenes, and for 2 decades he traveled to the White Mountains and painted landscapes of mountains, rivers, and lakes. He made extensive marine paintings throughout New England, becoming a prolific and successful artist. His work was appreciated because of the luminosity of their objects. Because of the lively yet glowing work, he is considered one of the Luminist painters in the Hudson River School. After mastering oil painting early in his career, Lewis switched to watercolor painting. Although not as technically outstanding, his watercolors were also admired for their luminosity - Luminism, and Lewis continued to generate canvases in mass production style. ;Later life Later in life, as an affluent artist Lewis collected decorative art, including furniture, ceramics, tapestries, and paintings by the masters. He had 2 adjacent homes constructed on 22nd St. in downtown Philadelphia to show his collection to Philadelphia society. ;Lake Willoughby Lewis's painting of Lake Willoughby (Vermont), a huge 80-inch canvas finished in 1867, is owned by the Pennsylvania Academy. The painting emphasized both the picturesque and sublime aspects of nature like other popular, mid-century popular spectacular panoramas of the Hudson River School.

References

Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States, Volume 5, p 51, 1903
Article on Edmund Darcy Lewis by John Howard Brown.
Appletons Cyclopedia, Volume 3, p 702, 1888
Article on Edmund Darch Lewis by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske

Lewis Biography online.

External links

Lewis' painting Along the Susquehanna, 1871.
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Lake Willoughby, 1867.
Schwartz Gallery
listing of available Lewis paintings.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Edmund Darch 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Luminism (American art style) Hudson River School painters American landscape painters Painters from Philadelphia 1835 births 1910 deaths 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists