Roberto Lewis

Roberto Gerónimo Lewis García de Paredes (Panama City, 30 September 1874 – Panama City, 22 September 1949), commonly known as Roberto Lewis, was a Panamanian painter and sculptor.

Biography

Roberto Gerónimo Lewis y García de Paredes was born on 30 September 1874 in Panama.

He completed his primary studies at the Catholic school of the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul and began secondary studies at the College of the Christian Brothers. His family sent him to Paris where he finished his secondary education.

He returned to Panama and worked in his family's businesses. After a short stay he went back to Paris, where he studied with the academic painter Léon Bonnat (1833–1923) and later with the post-Impressionist Albert Dubois-Pillet (1846–1930).

Returning to Panama in 1912, he devoted himself fully to painting and teaching. He was appointed director of the National School of Painting. In 1915 he served as artistic director of the National Exhibition of Panama alongside Narciso Garay and Carlos Endara. He taught painting until 1937, when he retired from the National Institute's School of Arts and Crafts and from several private professional colleges.

In 1936 he painted a mural series in the main hall of the Juan Demóstenes Arosemena Normal School, where he attempted to depict the history of humanity; however, that work remained unfinished.

His most important works are preserved in the Presidency of the Republic, in the National Theatre and in the main hall of the Juan Demóstenes Arosemena Normal School in Santiago, Veraguas—his last, unfinished project. Roberto Lewis died on 22 September 1949, aged 74. House of Roberto Lewis, located on Taboga Island.His picturesque cabin on Taboga Island is part of the Taboga Historic Monumental Ensemble (declared by Law No. 6 of 13 March 2012).

In addition to painting, Lewis was also a sculptor: in La Chorrera there is a bust of the Panamanian poet Tomás Martín Feulliet (1832–1862), and in the General Headquarters of the Benemérito Firefighters of the Republic of Panama there is a medallion of the Panamanian leader Ricardo Arango (1839–1898).