Il blog Messy Nessy ci fa scoprire la figura di Martin Lewis, emigrato australiano che si stabilì a New York nel 1909. Lewis ha avuto un ruolo cruciale nel plasmare il percorso artistico di Edward Hopper.
Martin Lewis era un insegnante d’arte in pensione che aveva avuto un inizio di carriera promettente. Con la Grande depressione la richiesta per le sue opere subì un rallentamento ed egli tornò nell’oscurità. Divenne quindi un insegnante e si concentrò per almeno tre decenni nel trasmettere ai suoi allievi l’arte dell’incisione. Lewis aveva conosciuto Edward Hopper frequentando gli stessi circoli artistici: divennero buoni amici e Lewis potè trasmettere a Hopper tutta la sua conoscenza della complessità del processo di incisione.

Lewis had taken up printmaking by 1915 and was using the etching press to produce prints which became widely admired and collected by the East coast elite. While making a name for themselves in New York City, Hopper asked his friend if he could study alongside him to learn his techniques, making Lewis his mentor for a brief while. As his student, Hopper learned the finer points of etching and both artists used the great American metropolis at night as their muse.

Hopper raggiunse in seguito un grande successo e riconobbe l’influenza avuta su di lui da Lewis, ma cercò di minimizzarla. Raccontò che Lewis era un vecchio amico che aveva generosamente condiviso suggerimenti tecnici sui processi di incisione:

Years later, when Hopper was preparing for a one-man show in Pittsburgh at the height of his career, he rejected the notion that Lewis’s work had influenced his own or that he had studied “under Lewis” as implied by the exhibit’s biographical essay. “Lewis is an old friend of mine,” he countered. “When I decided to etch, he, who had already done some, was glad to give me some tips, on the purely mechanical processes, grounding the plates, printing etc”. By this time, the two artists were no longer friends however. According to Edward’s wife Josephine, Lewis and his wife Lucille had given the Hoppers up, “quite understandably. It had been too much of a blow to have E.H so successful.”

Il lascito di Lewis ha vissuto una rinascita postuma, con le sue stampe che hanno riacquistato apprezzamento nel nuovo millennio. La sua opera, una volta trascurata, ora affascina collezionisti e appassionati d’arte. Una delle stampe di Lewis, intitolata Shadow Dance, ha raggiunto un prezzo record di 50.400 dollari all’asta quasi cinquant’anni dopo la sua morte, mentre gran parte delle sue opere sono di proprietà privata e non sono visibili al pubblico.

Sulle pagine di Rewiew31 un articolo firmato DC Pae completo e interessante presenta la vita e l’opera di Martin Lewis.

As the final curtain fell on the glory days of printmaking, a new star of the ‘American Scene’ was in the ascent; the age of Edward Hopper would establish itself in popular consciousness – a shift that was to etch itself upon the psyche of modern art-history in a way that lithography no longer could. If the Crash of 1929 was to have a catastrophic effect on the financial status of the United States, and globally in turn, its denizens plunged into a climate of social deprivation and unease, then the now unlamented casualties of the American art scene were to pay a similarly high price. For by the time of his death in 1962, Martin Lewis was all but forgotten by a world that had once embraced and celebrated the mastery of his craft.

La sue qualità tecniche erano davvero notevoli:

Lewis was recognised for his keen attention to detail, excelling with technical brilliance, especially with relation to his drypoint pieces, and insistence upon rigorous adherence to stringent technique; that all detail must be produced from etching directly on to the plate, rather than manipulated afterward through inking treatments. This, he saw as laziness and a shortcut, a corruption of the fine art. He produced prints of such intricacy so as to be exhibited in numerous group shows during the 1920s and early 30s, at a time when printmaking was undergoing something of a renaissance, and when Lewis became involved with influential artists and thinkers of the period, in the group of writers and intellectuals surrounding Lola Ridge.

Da vera estimatrice dell’opera di Lewis, DC Pae non nega che questo artista rimanga un mistero, anche se è stato molto rivalutato:

Despite renewed interest, this virtuoso of etching, of interplay between dark and light, a depicter of ‘film noir’ long before the genre was coined, before any cinematographer had captured a sultry image of its kind – remains an enigma. His technical brilliance, a wonder in itself; and he, recognised as a true master craftsman – a mystery. So may we shine a light on a nocturne, as those lamp-lit images did once long ago in the darkest backstreets of New York City. Let us drink a toast to Martin Lewis, lest his legacy be denied.

Su Flashbak (che riprende entrambi gli articoli che abbiamo citato) è possibile vedere molte belle immagini in grande formato delle opere di Lewis, una vera gioia per gli occhi:

Things turned out well for just one of the two men who had been friends. Hopper’s work is hymned and shown the world over. Hopper’s former home is museum. His works are listen on Wikipedia. A search for “Edward hopper exhibitions” brings up pages of results on Google. And Lewis? The National Gallery of Australia holds just six of Lewis’s works in its collection. And not a single one is displayed online.

Qui la scheda dedicata a questo artista sul sito dello Smithsonian American Art Museum.