Lewis was born in
Wales and studied at the
Newport School of Art in Wales from 1923 to 1926. He was then awarded a place at the
Royal College of Art in London, where he studied from 1926 until 1930. In 1930 he won second prize in the Rome Scholarship Awards in Mural Painting, and later that year returned home to take up the post of Painting Master at Newport School of Art. In 1939
World War II was declared and he was
called up in 1941 for initial training in North Wales and joined the Searchlight Regiment of the
Gloucestershire Regiment in
Somerset. After the war Stanley Lewis became Principal of Carmarthen School of Art where he taught until his retirement in 1967. Stanley Lewis, together with his wife, Minnie Lewis, were the author and illustrator of the book "Laugharne and Dylan Thomas", about their friend and neighbour, the poet
Dylan Thomas. He held a three-man show at the Bruton Gallery with the sculptors
Michael Ayrton and
Enzo Plazzotta. His painting
The Welsh Molecatcher (1937) was voted the most popular picture at the
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition that year. Stanley Lewis exhibited the following pictures at Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions: • 1932 – Portrait of Valerie, Portrait of Edith • 1936 – Portrait of a Ploughman • 1937 – The Welsh Mole Catcher, Portrait of Mrs Kirkley • 1939 – Portrait of a Girl with a Rose • 1940 – The
Croesyceiliog Blacksmiths, The Doll • 1955 – The
Welsh Dresser • 1961 – Horsepool Road,
Laugharne In the 2006
New Year Honours Lewis was awarded the
MBE for services to the arts. Until his death he was working on an illustrated book of his wartime experiences. ==References==