Isabel Lewis Seated Man Study

Isabel Lewis (fl.c.1870s–1920s): Decorative Naturalism

This picture forms part of a delightful collection of works by Isabel Lewis (fl.c.1870s–1920s). Lewis was one of the leading artists working for Royal Doulton potteries at Lambeth around the 1880s. Her early life was spent in London at Kennington, and her father was employed by Cox's bank. Isabel and her older sister, Florence, were encouraged in the arts by their father from a young age, and both went on to attend Lambeth School of Art. Under the direction of John Sparkes, Lambeth became a training ground for artists for the nearby Doulton pottery works, and the designs at Doulton became more artistic and refined. Isabel and Florence worked for Royal Doulton from the 1870s to the 1890s, when the highly decorative 'Lambeth Faience' style was at its height of popularity.

Around 1898 the two sisters retired from the potteries and relocated to Croydon, from which time they both focused on their personal art, travelling together, sketching and exhibiting. Our collection of works by Isabel Lewis evidences her Continental travels and preference for 'en plein air' landscape and animal subjects. The works embody a sense of modernity, their naturalistic subjects viewed through a decorative lens.

Accompanying the collection was a print of 'The Shepherdess' by Henry Lerolle (1848–1929), which features a flock of sheep that possibly provided inspiration for Lewis's own sheep compositions. Lerolle was a friend and patron of many leading French artists, including 'Les Nabis' post-impressionist artists Maurice Denis and Edouard Vuillard. Lerolle's own pastoral style evoked the work of Jules Bastien-Lepage and in turn, Isabel Lewis's pastoral sketches seem to embody the move towards decorative naturalism that was exemplified by artists such as the 'Glasgow Boy' Joseph Crawhall (1861–1913).

In the late 19th century, more than 300 women were employed at Doulton’s Lambeth pottery but it was nevertheless a man's world: Henry Doulton believed that the 'true sphere of woman is the family and household'. The work of female decorative artists has so often been lost to the annals of time, but the place that such artists occupied in the story of European modernism should not be overlooked.