Mary Amanda Lewis was born in San Francisco, California, on September 19, 1872, the daughter of Cornelia Edgerton and Franklin Jay Lewis. Raised in an atmosphere of culture as a youth she was exposed to art and music through her artistic parents who were fine musicians.
As a child she studied art and music with her father and in the 1890s studied painting with William F. Jackson at Sacramento's Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento, California. During the summer she attended classes taught by William Merritt Chase in Carmel in 1914.
Coming from a long line of musicians, she was also an accomplished cellist who performed for five years at the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey. Her music career enabled her to perform outside of Sacramento in places such as Lake Tahoe and Paso Robles, and these areas inspired many of her paintings.
An Impressionist, her works show the influence of William Merritt Chase. Mary Lewis died in Sacramento, California in 1953 having spent most of her life there.
Exhibited: California State Fair, 1891-95; Del Monte Art Gallery, 1910, 1912; Sacramento Hotel,1911 (with her father); Sacramento Art League, 1912; Golden Gate Park Memorial Museum, 1915; SFAA, 1916, 1917; Kingsley Art Club, Crocker Art Gallery, 1930-47.
In: Society of California Pioneers; Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento).
Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"; AskArt
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