top of page
Norman Lewis
1909-1979
Norman Lewis was an abstract expressionist at a time when African Americans had not fully embraced the style. He existed in two worlds and was not completely accepted in either. African Americans didn’t accept the abstract geometrical style and white people didn’t accept his heritage. Lewis, like many other artists of his time, was politically active against the US system that would send troops across the Atlantic in World War II to fight against racism while those troops were segregated. But he had trouble expressing his sociopolitical stance in his art work, so he focused on the aesthetic. Despite stellar reviews, Lewis’ work did not sell as well as his white contemporaries, so he supported himself and his family as a teacher.
bottom of page