Stanley Lewis: The Early Years

Stanley Lewis (1905 - 2009) drew every single day for 84 years. Lewis’s work is characteristic of a generation of modern British artists in the early 20th Century, who saw drawing as primary and fundamental to their work. Through his wartime service, Lewis’s artistic talents were put to use by his commanding officer, who commissioned a number of paintings documenting military life.

Stanley Lewis was born near Llanfrechfa outside Newport in south Wales and was brought up near Whitehall Farm. As a young boy he was keen on sketching, drawing on his rural surroundings in Wales and his affinity with the land for inspiration.

Self-portrait Crayon, Stanley Lewis, c. 1920s — *Self-portrait*
Crayon, Stanley Lewis, c. 1920s

Lewis studied at the Newport School of Art in Clarence Place from 1923 to 1926. He was awarded a place at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London, which he attended from 1926 to 1930.

Lewis (right) and friends at the Newport School of Art, 1926

After winning second prize in the Rome Scholarship Awards for Mural Painting, Lewis returned to South Wales to take up a teaching post as painting master at the School of Art in Newport in 1930.

Lewis (second from right, bottom row) with students, 1940

In 1937 Lewis gained national recognition when his painting The Welsh Molecatcher was voted the most popular picture at that year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

Said Lewis of the painting, “The rain-soaked mackintosh and old hat proclaim [the farm hand/molecatcher’s] present peaceful occupation, but the khaki puttees betray his former career as a soldier when he served with Indian Army in Afghanistan. The background of the farm kitchen is a faithful reproduction, and is typical of many a small farm in Wales and Monmouthshire.”

The painting was purchased by the Newport Museum and Art Gallery and has become one of the best-loved paintings in the museum’s collection.

The Welsh Molecatcher Oil on canvas, Stanley Lewis, 1937 — *The Welsh Molecatcher*
Oil on canvas, Stanley Lewis, 1937

After a brief courtship Lewis married Minnie Wright, one of his art students. Their wedding ceremony took place at Rogerstone Church near Newport on 2nd August 1939, just one month before war was declared.

The couple honeymooned in France — a surprising choice, given the prevailing political situation and the imminent threat of war.