James E. Lewis

James Edward Lewis (August 4, 1923 – August 9, 1997) was an African-American artist, art collector, professor, and curator in the city of Baltimore. He is best known for his role as the leading force for the creation of the James E. Lewis Museum of Art, an institution of the HBCU Morgan State University. His work as the chairman of the Morgan Art Department from 1950 to 1986 allowed for the museum to amass a large collection of more than 3,000 works, predominantly of African and African diasporan art. In addition, he is also well known for his role as an interdisciplinary artist, primarily focused on sculpture, though also having notable examples of lithography and illustration. His artistic style throughout the years has developed from an earlier focus on African-American history and historical figures, for which he is most notable as an artist, to a more contemporary style of African-inspired abstract expressionism.

Early and personal life

James E. Lewis was born in rural Phenix, Virginia on August 4, 1923 to James T. Lewis Lewis' parents were both sharecroppers. Shortly after his birth, his father moved to Baltimore for increased job opportunities; James E. was subsequently raised by his mother until the family was reunited in 1925. They lived for a short time with distant relatives until moving to a four-bedroom house on 1024 North Durham Street a mechanic, a custodian, a mailroom handler, His mother worked as both a clerk at a drugstore Lewis attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, where his love of the arts was heightened through his industrial art class with Lee Davis, who instilled in him a care for fine craftsmanship. He was personally very close with the school faculty, often going over to Davis' house to listen to jazz music or visiting Dr. Winslow and his children. The connection he had with the Winslow family solidified his interest in pursuing fine art after high school. Lewis planned on having a career solely in illustration, but realized that the field was not welcoming to African-Americans.

He was known to have spoken with Martin Luther King Jr. before King's death. Lewis was a strong supporter of placing a bust in the United States Capitol, and was one of the first to lobby for it.

Lewis and Adams had two children together, Cathleen Susan Lewis (born March 17, 1958) Sometime in the early 1950s, Lewis also introduced the first courses on African and African-American art. ) had abroad, he secured a grant from the Smithsonian Institution to do a study on African-American artists who have moved abroad to pursue their artistic careers the following year. He conducted his study on the aforementioned visual artists with the additions of Herbert Gentry, William Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, and Henry Ossawa Tanner. Using this information, he guest-curated a show of the works of those artists entitled "Afro American Artists Abroad" at the University of Texas at Austin. He also was a guest-curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art in primitive art. While in Africa, he was also the organizer of the Dakar Arts Festival. work that uncovered thousands of terracotta artifacts and fragments. Some of the oldest works from the site are dated to around the 12th century. One such example of his inspirations was gold weights of the Ashanti people.

Negro soldier controversy Sometime before fall 1968, an anonymous donor put out a nationwide search for an artist willing to create a statue dedicated to African-Americans who had been involved in military conflict. A law firm, on behalf of the donor, sent a letter to Lewis to gauge his interest in the project, asking him to submit a sketch and a cost estimate. Due to the notion of Baltimore as a city of monuments, Lewis accepted the project. His original sketch for the work was revealed in The Baltimore Sun on October 4, 1968, which displayed a wreath and a list of wars that black soldiers had been a part of. The original estimate for the creation of the sculpture and the pedestal was between $23,000 to $25,000. In June 1968, the Baltimore Board of Recreation and Parks approved the location of the statue to be placed at Battle Monument Square. On October 3 of that year, the Baltimore Art Commission also approved of the statue's creation.

The choice of location incited a major controversy on the Baltimore political scene. Harry D. Kaufman, a member of the Park Board, criticized the fact that the statue was going to be of an unidentified black male, arguing that it was a tribute to a race as opposed to an individual. He suggested that the statue pay tribute to Crispus Attucks, Harriet Tubman, or Doris Miller instead. Additional arguments were also raised by the General Society of the War of 1812, the Constellation Committee, and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House. Some concerns were raised about the location of the statue, which was a plaza dedicated to the fallen soldiers of Fort McHenry, which some believed would change the scope and meaning of the site.

The work was completed by the famed New York foundry, Roman Bronze Works,

Selected exhibition history

As a curator The Calculated Image, 1958, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland

As an artist Britain Salutes Baltimore Artists, 1975–1976, London, England An Ashanti (Ghana) Related Design, relief in bronze, 1969, 28 in x 42 ft x 5 in, Cherry Hill Junior High, Baltimore, Maryland Illegal Lovers, lithograph, 1947, 10 in x 12 in, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Bad Omen, lithograph, 1947, 15 in x 10 in, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Fountain Sculpture, sculpture in bronze, 1970, 8 ft x 4 ft, Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland Clarence Mitchell, Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse, Baltimore, Maryland Martin Luther King Jr., sculpture in bronze, 8–9 ft height, 1982, King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Atlanta, Georgia Untitled illustration of black students, illustration, November 22, 1971, The Chronicle of Higher Education An original pen and ink multiple-image drawing of Ralph Ellison, illustration, March 1970, CLA Journal Helmet Senufo Mask, illustration, Spring/Summer 1968, African Forum Firespitter Senufo Mask of the Korubla Society, two illustrations, Spring/Summer 1968, African Forum The location of these works are currently unknown.

Lewis was known to have made multiple different sculptures of Frederick Douglass, the other two of which are unknown in location, as well as of Martin Luther King Jr., which exist in Lusaka, Zambia, and the King Memorial Park in Woodstock, Maryland.

Works by Lewis are also held in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Howard University, and Clark Atlanta University.