| Dick
Lewis
Lewis' groupings of figures and individuals
in the out of doors recall the romantic pieces of Manet, Cassett,
or Renoir.
These figures under the dappled pattern of sunlight and
shadow, seem filled with happiness as they radiate a human
warmth that is utterly entrancing.
Even though the paintings do not treat
with the theories the Impressionists were trying to develop,
in feeling they
evoke the more romantic pieces of that group. They are like nineteenth
century tableaux, with elegantly dressed figures placed in idyllic
settings. The characters that evoke these pieces evoke nothing
so much as romantic novels. The colors are fresh and bright;
a sunny, late 19th century palette.
much more structured than Impressionist pieces. The gay and colorful
studies of contemporary life were incidental to the real
absorption of this school of painters with the momentary
sensation of light and color. This preoccupation finally made
for a dissolution of the solidity of three dimensional form and
a new departure in the perception of form.
And so even though these paintings resemble many I mpressionist
pieces in feeling, in the solid way Lewis treats his figures
they could not be less related. Indeed, intellectually Lewis'
work has more affinity with the art that preceded and came after
Impressionist painting.
These are romantic pieces peopled by Victorian, Jamesian characters.
They make a statement and thereby express a wish. A wish for
an orderly, rational world, peopled with lovely young men and
women. A gracious sphere where complex contemporary issues
do not intrude. The pieces are nothing so much as Mr. Lewis'
denial of what does exist and expressive fantasy of what he wishes
did exist.
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Selected Exhibitions
Kotler Gallery, New York City Ward/Nasse, New York City Robinson
Gallery, Miami, Florida Lever House, New York City Greenwich
Gallery, Greenwich, Conn. Deauville Hotel Gallery, Miami Beach,
Florida
Portobello Gallery, New Canaan, Conn. Sanaa Gallery, Nyack,
NY
Del Valentino Gallery, Hilton Hotel,
New York City
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