Mansel Lewis
Charles William Mansel Lewis (* 1845 in London ; † March 13, 1931 ) was a Welsh late impressionist painter . His work belongs to the late Victorian and Edwardian genre of social-realistic painting. Mansel Lewis is also considered a patron and patron of the fine arts in Wales .
Life
Mansel Lewis was born in London in 1845 as the third child and first son of David Lewis and his wife Laetitia. His father was a Justice of the Peace , Member of Parliament , entrepreneur and squire at Stradey Castle in Llanelli in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire . His mother was a talented watercolor painter . The family belonged to the gentry , the landed gentry. Mansel Lewis spent his childhood at Stradey Castle. He was later sent to Eton , where his drawing talent was noticed in art class, so that he was promoted by Samuel Evans . During the holidays he drew with mother Laetitia and sister Fanny. He made numerous watercolors from trips with his father. After graduating in Eton studied Lewis Classical Philology at the University in Oxford and graduated with summa cum laude . He was also taught by William Rivière from the Slade School of Fine Art .
In 1872, after the death of his father, Lewis inherited his country estate and from then on lived as a country gentleman. He devoted himself extensively to painting and graphics , but also participated in industrial and financial ventures. In 1873 he met Hubert von Herkomer , with whom he had a lifelong friendship. He also bought his first oil painting After the Toil of the Day , which still hangs in Stradey Castle today. Lewis married Edith Clare Miles, daughter of Sir Philip John William Miles and Frances Elizabeth Roche, in 1875. In 1878 Lewis was allowed to exhibit his painting Near Home at the Royal Academy of Arts . Between 1879 and 1884 Lewis and Herkomer went on painting trips to Snowdonia in North Wales, where they stayed in tents and huts. The painting Carreg Cennan Castle also dates from this period . In the following years Lewis acquired a large art collection , including a. with works by Herkomer, William Rivière and Edwin Landseer . Herkomer was deeply impressed by his friend's collection. Lewis sponsored the National Eisteddfod , an annual arts and culture festival that dates back to the 12th century. In 1895, von Herkomer designed new robes for the official representatives of the festival.
In 1881 Lewis was named High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire and a member of the Society of Painter-Etchers . In 1882 he was represented with the picture The Devil's Kitchen at the annual show of the Royal Academy. In 1883 some of his financial investments failed, forcing him to sell parts of his art collection. In 1893 Lewis took part in an international exhibition in Chicago . In 1905 he took part in the Royal Academy Show with his large painting In the Golden Weather . In 1907 he founded the Llanelli School of Art and was its president until his death. Every year he gave a lecture at his art school and had it distributed in print. Lewis died in 1931 at the age of 86. In 1934 his wife Edith Clare died.
plant
In his painting, unlike many of his contemporaries, Mansel Lewis did not aim at sentimentality or pathos, but rather depicted people and landscape as part of nature without feeling bliss. He did not attribute creativity to art itself, but saw its function in it, matter in terms of its colors and to put together and organize forms. The task of art for him was the representation of beauty. Lewis was a devout person and believed the beauty of nature to be evidence of God's existence. He therefore felt it was the artist's primary duty to reproduce nature in its perfection, in order to reveal the glory of God in this way.
Lewis thought his friend Herkomer was a great artist. On the other hand, he did not value his own abilities very highly and often found his own works unsatisfactory. Therefore some of the pictures remained unfinished. He often had to be encouraged by Herkomer to complete paintings or to exhibit them. The works of the two painters were similar in style and subject, but in contrast to Herkomer, Lewis depicted his characters more spontaneously, more powerfully and in warmer tones. Herkomer, on the other hand, set his figures cautiously and carefully in cool tones. Towards the end of his life, Mansel no longer painted so dense and covered, but more relaxed, impressionistic with bright colors, as his last work Enchanted Castle shows.
Lewis mostly used oil paints , but also worked in watercolor . He also made high quality etchings . Although Mansel devoted a lot of time to his artistic activities, only a few of his works have survived and are mostly in private hands. There are only two portraits. One of them is May Miles, Lewis's sister-in-law. Herkomer probably painted a similar portrait of the young lady at the same meeting. In contrast to Herkomer, Mansel did not want to be known and understood as an artist, but felt himself to be a patron of the arts and a patron of Welsh culture.
Individual proof
- ↑ Mansel Lewis: Lectures to the Llanelli School of Art
literature
- Stephanie Jones: Charles William Mansel Lewis: Painter, Patron and Promoter of Art in Wales , Center for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies 1998, ISBN 0947531602 .
- Hartfrid Neunzert (eds.): Mansel Lewis and Hubert Herkomer: Wales - England - Bavaria , Neues Stadtmuseum, Landsberg 1999, ISSN 0931-2722
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lewis, Mansel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lewis, Charles William Mansel (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Welsh late impressionist painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1845 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 13, 1931 |