William Lewis

William Lewis, American, 1918-2020. A 1970s-1990s acrylic mixed media collage on canvas homage to the Detroit Tigers baseball team, titled "The Tigers". Signed "W. Lewis" lower right, titled and dated "1972-1993" with Preston Burke Gallery label verso. Image measures 42 1/4 x 28" high, framed 43 1/2 x 29 1/4" high overall.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Lewis originally trained as a designer and studied with Carlos Lopez and Jean Paul Slusser while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. After working as a freelance designer and illustrator with Harvey Littleton, he joined he University of Michigan faculty in 1949. He was one of the founders of the Ann Arbor Potters Guild with JT Abernathy and Littleton, while still being an active member of the Michigan Watercolor Society. For ten years he was the University of Michigan’s representative to the National Association of Schools of Art. Best known for his large-scale watercolors, Lewis eventually expanded his mediums to oil, acrylic, and collage.

A renowned painter, Lewis worked in many media including ceramics, photography, and collage. He was a co-founder of the Ann Arbor Potter’s Guild, and over the span of his career Lewis’ work was featured in more than 100 solo exhibitions, the last of which was hosted at the Stamps School of Art & Design’s former Work Gallery in 2015, entitled Fragments of the Great War 1914-1918. His work is represented in public, corporate, and private collections (including the Toledo Museum of Art and the U.S. Navy Art Gallery in Washington DC).