Edmund Lewandowski (1914–1998) was an American Precisionist artist who was often exhibited in the Downtown Gallery alongside other artists such as Charles Sheeler,

Charles Demuth Charles Henry Buckius Demuth (November 8, 1883 – October 23, 1935) was an American painter who specialized in watercolors and turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism. "Search the history of Ame ...

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

Ralston Crawford Ralston Crawford (1906–1978) was an American abstract painter, lithographer, and photographer. Early life He was born on September 5, 1906, in St. Catharines, Ontario, and spent his childhood in Buffalo, New York. He studied art beginning in ...

George Ault __NOTOC__ George Copeland Ault (October 11, 1891 – December 30, 1948) was an American painter. He was loosely grouped with the Precisionist movement and, though influenced by Cubism and Surrealism, his most lasting work is of a realist nature. ...

, and Niles Spencer.

Life

Edmund Lewandowski was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. He attended the

Layton School of Art The Layton School of Art was a post-secondary school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Originally affiliated with the Layton Art Gallery, it was established by Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink in September 1920 in the basement of the buildi ...

from 1931 until his graduation in 1934.

Career

Air Mail Service, by Edmund Lewandowski, 1940

He assumed a public school teaching position to make a living while he pursued painting on his own and sought commissions in advertising and magazine illustration. In 1936, he was invited by prominent modern art dealer

Edith Halpert Edith Halpert or Edith Gregor Halpert (née Edith Gregoryevna Fivoosiovitch; 1900–1970) was a pioneering New York City dealer of American modern art and American folk art. She brought recognition and market success to many avant-garde American ...

to join her Downtown Gallery. That same year, he began painting United States post office murals commissioned by the

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

. During 1939 and 1940 executed murals for the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

Caledonia, Minnesota Caledonia is a city and the county seat of Houston County, Minnesota, United States and is part of the La Crosse, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,847 at the 2020 census. History Caledonia was platted in 1854–185 ...

, titled ''Hog Raising'';

Hamilton, Illinois Hamilton is a city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,951 at the 2010 census, a decline from 3,029 in 2000. The city is located directly across the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa. Hamilton is the largest city in ...

, titled ''On the River''; and

Stoughton, Wisconsin Stoughton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It straddles the Yahara River about 20 miles southeast of the state capital, Madison. Stoughton is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the popula ...

, titled ''Air Mail Service''. From 1942 to 1946, Lewandowski made maps and

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

. In 1947, he was appointed to the faculty of the Layton School of Art. The otherworldly clarity of Lewandowski's work won him inclusion in a show themed around Magic Realism at the Museum of Modern Art (New York, 1943, Americans 1943: Realists and Magic Realists). In 1949, he moved to Florida State University, where he remained until 1954. Following his tenure in Florida, he returned to the Layton school, where he was the director until 1972. His final position was as

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

and Chairman of the Art Department at

Winthrop University Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was founded in 1886 by David Bancroft Johnson, who served as the superintendent of Columbia, South Carolina, schools. He received a grant from Robert Charles Winthrop, ...

in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he served from 1973 until 1984. Upon retirement, he was named an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. He died in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...

in 1998.

References

Valerie Ann Leeds, "Edmund Lewandowski's Mosaic Murals," American Art Review, 18 (March–April 2006), pp. 142–47. Valerie Ann Leeds, "Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond," Flint, Michigan: Flint Institute of Arts, 2010. 1914 births 1998 deaths United States Army Air Forces soldiers Winthrop University faculty Florida State University faculty Artists from Milwaukee 20th-century American painters American male painters Precisionism American people of Polish descent People from Paris, Kentucky 20th-century American male artists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists {{US-painter-1910s-stub