James Lewicki (December 13, 1917 – December 12, 1979) was a twentieth century American artist and illustrator who worked for many of the magazines of his day and extensively for Life (magazine). His book illustrations include The Life Treasury of American Folklore, The World We Live In (Life magazine), The Golden Bough written by Sir James Frazer and published by the Limited Editions Club (see The Heritage Press) and The Golden Book of Christmas Tales, written by his wife, Lillian. James also explored the Christmas theme in magazines and created cards for the American Artists Group.
Life and Works
Life History
James Lewicki, the second child of Ukrainian immigrants was born on December 13, 1917 in Buffalo, New York to Max and Alexandra Lewicki. His teachers recognized his talent from an early age and Jim went on to attend Buffalo Technical High School, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies), and Pratt Institute, where he graduated in Illustration in 1939.
He married Lillian Schalow in 1943, also an Illustration major at Pratt Institute, who partnered with him on many projects throughout his career as researcher, draftsman, studio assistant and secretary. They had two children, Roy Lewicki and Lisa Lewicki Hermanson. First living in Brooklyn, then Hollis, New York, they moved to Centerport, New York (on Long Island) in 1952, where they built a house and studio.
As an illustrator, Jim was always looking for a story to turn into pictures, and that included tapping personal experience. In 1952 he sold Life Goes Camping with the Lewickis to Life magazine, and in the 1970s wrote and illustrated The Territory for Yankee (magazine), based on his experiences with a cherished vacation home in the woods of northern Vermont.
When not working on illustration assignments, Jim enjoyed painting landscapes and sketching outdoors. He worked in watercolor up to the 1960s and later in acrylics. He exhibited annually with Audubon Artists and the American Watercolor Society and was a member of these two groups as well as Rotary International and the Society of Illustrators. Later, he did a series of graphite and pen drawings, as well as mixed media works in collage. Printmaking also became an outlet, producing etchings, monoprints, and working in dry lithography, a "green" process invented by his C.W. Post colleague, Harry Hoehn.
During the 1960s and 70’s Jim switched gears and became a professor, sharing his expertise with both graduate and undergraduate students in the Fine Arts Department of LIU Post (formerly known as the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University).
Illustration career
Early Assignments
Jim completed his first book project while still at Pratt in 1939; From Village to Metropolis by R.W. Swan, a pictorial history of New York City from its early days as a Dutch settlement up through modern times.
Jim started to get work from Life magazine directly after Pratt, honing his skills with a wide variety technical black and white illustrations, many related to World War 2, such as Anatomy of Bombs. Jim also did quick spots for The New York Times on very short deadlines.
Christmas
In 1943, Jim entered a Christmas card competition; the challenge, to depict the Christmas message in a time of war, sponsored by the American Artists Group. His painting of a bombed out church, with a large stained glass window of a Madonna and Child miraculously preserved, won second prize. Asked to do a commission the following year he recalled the Buffalo winters of his childhood, where a lighted paper star was paraded from house to house as carols were sung, following Ukrainian tradition. This led to a lifelong association with the theme of Christmas, starting with the series of cards, Christmas 'Round the World, also for American Artists Group. Additional research on the Christmas theme led to "The Customs of Christmas" for Life magazine.
Jim also made a rebus of The Night Before Christmas published by Hallmark Cards. Later on, he completed a pictorial essay for Life (magazine) - Christmas Legends. These paintings later appeared in book form published by Simon and Schuster as The Golden Book of Christmas Tales, with the stories written by Lillian. Jim continued to produce Christmas cards in a variety of decorative styles for American Artists Group through the 1960s.