Neville Lewis was a South African artist, born in 1895 in Cape Town. In 1912 he moved to London to study art, first with Stanhope Forbes in Newlyn, Cornwall, and later at the Slade School of Art, where he was a pupil of Henry Tonks and, most influentially, Augustus John. Following active service in World War I, he took on a studio in London. He divided his time between the UK and his homeland: in England he painted alongside the likes of William Roberts and Muirhead Bone, exhibited at The Goupil Gallery and had various “one-man” exhibitions but he was also South Africa’s first official war artist during the Second World War and even designed South African postage stamps during this time. He later re-settled in South Africa permanently.
He is remembered chiefly as a portrait painter and as such Lewis undertook a number of important commissions, including Sir Winston Churchill, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George II of Greece, Field-Marshall Lord Montgomery, Chief Tshekedi Khama and Paul Sauer.
His work has been purchased by the Contemporary Art Society, and also by the Duveen Fund for presentation to the National Gallery; is also represented in various Public Galleries in South Africa.
Signed 'LEWIS', verso; Canvas size: 30 x 35 cm. Believed to be painted by Neville Lewis; inscribed ‘LEWIS’, on verso. Read more