Abstract artist Norman Lewis
Untitled ("Umbrella") (c. 1944), lithograph on cream wove paper, by Norman Lewis. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For 50 years, Norman Lewis (1909-1979) painted with a style all his own, and with an astounding command of color and line.
"He was a true Renaissance man," his daughter, Tarin Fuller," told CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod. "He talked about excellence and understanding what that meant, and always shooting for the ceiling."
Decades after his death, he's enjoying a critical reappraisal. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia has mounted the first major retrospective of his work - art that curator Ruth Fine describes as "complex and beautiful."
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
Norman Lewis
Norman Lewis was born in 1909 in Harlem to Caribbean immigrant parents, and lived in New York most of his life, with a brief period spent in California. Lewis said in interviews that as a child he saw a woman painting on the streets of Harlem, and decided then that that's what he wanted to do.
He took industrial art courses in high school, and attended the John Reed Club Art School for a time, though he was primarily self-trained, with countless trips to the Museum of Modern Art. "That's where he went to school," said curator Ruth Fine. "He said he was self-trained because the training that mattered to him was the training he gave himself."
"The Wanderer (Johnny)"
"The Wanderer (Johnny)" (1933), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
He was active in Harlem's art community, in left-wing political organizations, and unions. He also taught at the Jefferson School in the 1940s.
"Baulé Mask"
"Baulé Mask" (1935), pastel on sandpaper, by Norman Lewis.
"Bobin (bobbin) Loom, Baulé"
"Bobin (bobbin) Loom, Baulé" (1935), pastel on paper, by Normal Lewis.
"Hep Cats"
"Hep Cats" (1943), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"He painted non-stop," said Ruth Fine. "He talked at various times about earning money for both his library and his art supplies by gambling. And his gambling included the horses, poker and pool. And apparently he was very good at all three."
"That's not the most common path for a fine artist, is it?" asked Jim Axelrod.
"Most don't talk about it," Fine laughed.
"Jazz"
"Jazz" (1943/1944), lithograph on Rives cream wove paper, by Norman Lewis.
"Shorty George"
"Shorty George" (1943), lithograph on cream wove paper, by Norman Lewis. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
"Recto: Untitled (Police Beating)"
"Recto: Untitled (Police Beating)" (1943), watercolor, ink and graphite on paper, by Norman Lewis.
"Subway Station"
Title unknown ("Subway Station") (1945), oil and sand on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
His more realistic figurative imagery in the 1930s and '40s gave way to the influences of cubism and other forms of abstract art. Lewis' style could be seen veering heavily into abstract expressionism as his career progressed.
"He really wanted to deal with the messiness of life," said Fine. "His choices were always towards a kind of visual and intellectual complexity. He didn't make it easy for people - he's not easy to grasp. And I think that's what makes him distinctive, [and] important. I think he truly wanted his art to parallel life and human experience as he understood it."
"Musicians"
"Musicians (a.k.a. Street Musicians)" (1945), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Jazz Club"
Title unknown ("Jazz Club") (1945), oil and sand on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Architectural Abstraction"
Untitled ("Architectural Abstraction") (1945), oil, watercolor and ink on paper, by Norman Lewis.
"Abstraction"
Untitled ("Abstraction") (1947), lithograph on cream wove paper, by Norman Lewis. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
"Winter Branches"
"Winter Branches" (1946), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"I think he was under-known," said curator Ruth Fine. "I suppose those of us in the art world think everybody in the art world is under-known in the wider world. But in the art world, he was under-known."
Abstraction
Title unknown (1947), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"In his lifetime, he showed in one of the best galleries in New York, the Willard Gallery, from 1946 (with his first one-man show in 1949) until about 1964 or '65," said Ruth Fine. "He got very good press in the important art journals, [and] was part of important conversations about abstract expressionism."
Lewis then left the Willard Gallery, and became very involved with the black arts movement. "He sort of disappeared," said Fine, who added, "He was always admired within the black artistic community among people who respect abstraction -- not a broad category!"
"Self Portrait"
Untitled ("Self Portrait") (1949), oil on paper, by Norman Lewis.
"Fingerprints"
Untitled ("Fingerprints") (1949), ink on paper, by Norman Lewis.
Lewis' work then moved into what Fine described as "a very calligraphic period, where the use of line in fairly abstract terms for me reflects his interest in music."
"Gate"
"Gate" (1950), graphite on paper, by Norman Lewis.
"Street Music"
"Street Music" (1950), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
"Blending"
"Blending" (c. 1951), oil and ink on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Exaltation"
Title Unknown ("Exaltation") (1951), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Arctic Night"
"Arctic Night" (1951-52), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis. The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Another reason, Fine says, that Lewis was not better-known was that he did not arrive at a signature image.
"When you think of Barnett Newman, you get an image in your mind. If you talk about de Kooning, you get an imagine in your mind, [or] Jackson Pollock. If you're talking about Norman Lewis, you get many images in your mind."
"And that can be a problem for an artist's identity," said correspondent Jim Axelrod.
"Exactly."
Art Students League
Norman Lewis teaching at the Art Students League in New York City, 1978.
"Abstraction"
Untitled ("Abstraction") (c. 1960), oil, Conté crayon, and pastel (?) on paper, by Norman Lewis.
Abstraction
Title Unknown (c. 1960), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Barker and Crowd"
Title unknown ("Barker and Crowd," a.k.a. "Torch") (c. 1960), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis. High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
"Journey to an End"
"Journey to an End" (1964), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis. Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, Michigan.
"March on Washington"
Title Unknown ("March on Washington") (1965), oil on fiberboard, by Norman Lewis.
Abstraction
Title unknown (c. 1970), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Part Vision"
"Part Vision" (1971), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
"Confrontation"
"Confrontation" (1971), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
Fine says the realities of the racial situation of his time influenced his work profoundly, but he did not make overtly political statements with his art, which drew criticism from other strongly political black artists in the 1960s and '70s who felt Lewis was not portraying African American life.
"I think he felt perhaps that his art would reach a broader audience if he engaged in the most avant-garde ideas of his time as an artist," Fine said.
"Circle"
Untitled ("Circle") (c. 1972), etching (and drypoint?) on cream wove paper, by Norman Lewis.
"Togetherness"
"Togetherness" (1973), relief etching on Arches cream wove paper, by Norman Lewis.
"I"
"I" (1974), oil on paper, by Norman Lewis.
"I think he did not want his art to be pigeonholed," Fine told Jim Axelrod. "And he did not want his person to be pigeonholed. He wanted to live his life the way he wanted to live it. And he wanted to paint his art the way he wanted to paint it. And I don't see that as a rejection of anything. I see that as an embrace of everything."
"Seachange"
"Seachange" (1975), oil on canvas, by Norman Lewis.
Installation
"Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis" at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, is the first major retrospective of Lewis' work.
"I think the art world is realizing that the story of American art is much more diverse than it has been told over generations," said curator Ruth Fine. "Young scholars, but even old people like me, are trying to tell the story of American art in a fuller, more complex way, more interesting way than earlier generations."
Display
A display case of Norman Lewis' sketchbooks and notes, from "Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis."
Norman Lewis
In a 1976 interview Norman Lewis remarked, "I may not reach the ceiling, but I think I still have tried to do things that I believe."
For more info:
"Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis" at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (through April 3, 2016)
Exhibition Catalogue: "Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis" (University of California Press)