Signed
Crayon, pencil and watercolour
11 3/4 x 17 in.; (30 x 43 cms)
Inscribed on the reverse Stanley Cornwell Lewis ARCA Principal Carmarthen School Orchard House Lwanstephan Carms.
oil on 'The Pelham' canvas board
12x16 in; (30.5 x 40.5 cm.)
Exhibited: Exhibition of Paintings, Monmouth County Council, (Welsh Arts Council), November 1952, as Baldwins Steelworks, Panteg, Monmouthsire (no. 59)
This painting depicts Alcan Steel Works based in Rogerstone, Newport, Monmouthshire, near Stanley's home. During the war it produced 90% of the aluminum needed for the construction of Aluminum clad aircraft such as Spitfires.
Stanley Lewis painted the steel works from a nearby hill, where, watching the smoke drifting with the wind, he was 'mesmerised and compelled to paint it'. The steelworks were demolished in 2009.
Signed, Oil on canvas,36 x 22 in.
Exhibited: Royal Academy 1955 (158); Arts Council of great Britain Welsh Committee, 4th Open Exhibition of Contemporary Welsh Painting and Sculpture 1957, National Museum of Wales Cardiff, (no. 5)
Stanley was fascinated by Flemish 17th century painting, especially Rembrandt and Jan Steen, and visited Holland several times.
The joint of ham in this painting was Sally, a family pet pig, who ran riot around the one acre garden at Orchard House in LLANSTEPHAN, until she terrorised and bit MR. RICE the POSTMAN and had to be slaughtered .
Painted at the suggestion of Min – dresser in the corner of the huge farmhouse kitchen at Orchard House. “THE VAST WELSH DRESSER SO BIG IT MUST HAVE BEEN CONSTRUCTED FOR THE HOUSE IN THE ROOM. IT WAS COLOSSAL. WALKING AND OBSERVING IT I THOUGHT TO MYSELF ‘YES, MIN’S RIGHT, IT WOULD MAKE A GOOD PICTURE’ AND SO I BOUGHT MY FIRST CANVAS AND IT WAS THE FIRST PAINTING I DID AT ORCHARD HOUSE. LATER IT WAS ACCEPTED BY THE ROYAL ACADEMY AND WAS HUNG NEAR CHURCHILL’S BOTTLE SCAPES, AND IN MY OPINION CHURCHILL NEVER GOT THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CIRCLES RIGHT. NEAR MY PAINTING WAS HUNG THE QUEEN’S PORTRAIT. I placed JENNIFER’S BELOVED BLACK DOLL, SAMBO ON THE OLD WELSH SETTLE AND PLACED THE STAFFORDSHIRE DOG, WHICH I STILL OWN, NEAR THE DISH OF EGGS THAT CAME FROM MY OWN FLOCK OF CHICKENS. I WAS SO AMUSED WHEN I SAW IT AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY AND SAW SALLY OUR WONDERFUL PIG NEXT TO THE QUEEN’S OFFICAL PORTRAIT. I MUST SAY I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED PAINTING THIS PICTURE AND FELT FREE AGAIN, FAR BETTER THAN STRIPPING OLD WALLPAPER AND PLASTER PATCHING AND PAINTING ORCHARD HOUSE’S ENORMOUS ROOMS.”
Whitehall Farm was one of two compositions that Lewis prepared for the 1930 Rome Scholarship in Decorative Painting, which he entered on the insistence of William Rothenstein, Principal of the Royal College of Art, having won an entrance scholarship there in 1925. Lewis missed winning the 1930 Rome Scholarship by a single vote.
‘I was brought up on a big farm called “Whitehall Farm” six miles from the city of Newport in Monmouthshire. As a toddler I was fascinated with all the animals and the goings-on that made up life on a farm in those far-off years: the huge horses (Shires), the bullocks and cows and the sheep, chickens, ducks,turkeys, pigs, dogs, etc., and especially the farm workers. My father loved horses and banned horse-whips from the farm.
‘The background shows only a small section of the buildings – there were huge barns, stables and sheds and a large pool where I sailed my model ships which I made in the carpenter’s shed. On the left is a farm boy carrying hay, andflirting with the maids! Then two men are talking: the old man is Mr Philips, and Albert Hall with horse collar on his right arm. Many jokes were made on Albert’s name, but he took it in good heart. My father is milking the cow in the centre,my sister is holding a pet rabbit,myself doing up laces. My mother sits deeply in thought. The man on the ladder is culling a square of hay from the hayrick. Jim Miles is shown greeting his young wife and baby, and of course the real occupants of the farm – the animals – are all about’ (Letter to Paul Liss, 28 November 2006).
We are grateful to Jennifer and Beverley Heywood, Stanley Lewis and Kingsley Wood for their assistance.