Untitled

Norman Wilfred Lewis

1978 · Oil on canvas · Modern and Contemporary Art

An Abstract Expressionist, Lewis developed a unique approach to abstract painting. His paintings, such as this example, are composed of individual strokes reminiscent of glyphs, calligraphic script, and miniaturized figures set within fields of color. These individual elements seem to respond to one another’s position, their movements carefully choreographed by the artist. Because Lewis’s strokes mass and swarm in the manner of large groups of bodies, they often call to mind dances, marches, and processions, including those associated with the civil rights movement, whose aims Lewis supported. The blue field here evokes the maritime landscapes around New York and in Greece, where Lewis travelled in 1973 to visit Jack Whitten.

Artist

Norman Wilfred Lewis

Date

1978

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Purchase, George A. Hearn Fund, by exchange, and The Eugene and Estelle Ferkauf Foundation Gift, 1991