Original oil painting on board, with wooden frame. 56x70 cm (22x28"), with frame: 70x84 cm (28x33").
Striking original oil painting by Texas artist William Lester Lewis. A plaque affixed to the rear of the frame attributes the painting to Lester, stating the piece was shown at a Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts exhibition in 1940. A plate from the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts is present as well. No signature or date is visible on the framed painting.
Lewis was an active member of the Dallas Artists League beginning with its formation in 1932. During the Great Depression era, the members formed a nucleus of artists who led in the development of a Texas Regionalist style. At the time, Dallas was one of the strongest and most dynamic centers of the regional art movement in the country. His work is represented in the permanent collections of many leading art museums and other collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum, New York; the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Dallas Museum of Art and many other notable museums.
Lester exhibited widely and achieved considerable recognition during his career. He first gained national attention as one of the exhibitors at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas in 1936. In that same year, his work was shown at the First National Exhibition of American Art at the Rockefeller Center in New York. His paintings were also shown at other expositions and museums around the country, including the Pan American Exposition in Dallas (1937), the Golden Gate Exposition, and the New York World's Fair Exhibition (1939).