[From the catalogue-in-progress for “Landscapes & Livestock”, a loan exhibition for Agincourt Homecoming in the Fall of 2015]

LEWIS, William George [1882-1974]

Three Village Sketches: Cartmel / Woodbridge (1 & 2)

mid-20c

watercolor on paper / 3.3 inches by 3.3 inches; 2.9 inches by 3.7 inches; 3.1 inches by 5.1 inches

Change comes more slowly in Britain than it does in the United States. These three watercolor sketches by W. G. Lewis, each about the area of a standard tourist postcard, record vernacular scenes of English village life. And each probably took no longer than ten to fifteen minutes for completion, yet the artist’s highly selective eye has chosen the minimum of shape, proportion and texture to convey the essence of place.