Ode to My Father, Donald S. Lewis Sr.

Today is my Dad's birthday, Donald Sykes Lewis Sr.. He would have been 91 today. He did a lot of wonderful things in his life. Not the least being bringing up a daughter and a son who loved him very much. His love for art has enriched all our lives.

Dad brought beauty and the understanding of good design to everything he touched. He established Auslew Gallery, in 1952 in Norfolk Va. Against the better judgment of all the rest of our family. As a child I remember everyone telling him that there had never been a successful art gallery in Norfolk. Richmond was the capital and maybe he would be better there. He persevered. In the beginning he ran two businesses at once. He still maintained an adding machine business while my mother ran the newly formed art gallery. The first summer my little brother and I went to work with her so the business could get off the ground.

The Gallery became one of the largest in the southeastern states. Dad specialized in American Art. He had only a few years of College letting his older and younger brothers go in his place, but when it came to art his thirst for knowledge was insatiable. He studied books on art and read every bit of information he could get on American art. Without a degree in his field he became recognized as an authority. He could spot a great painting even under layers of old varnish and dirt. He both cleaned and restored paintings. He was good friends with local College professors Charles Sibley, artist and professor at Old Dominion , and Parker Lesley, Art History Professor and adviser to the Queen on renaissance jewelry. He was deeply respected.

Dad was also an inventive artist in his own right. He came up with something he called "cloutage". This was a process of using found metal pieces and combining them with paint to produce some wonderful pieces of art. An example of one hangs in my living room next to the large one by his grandson Lewis's large painting (1st photo).  When I was in college he had a show of his work some where on Madison Avenue in New York City. The show was successful. Leo Castelli wanted to handle his art, but told him he must do much larger pieces. His work was done on board with metal and was extremely heavy as it was. (One of his paintings is in the photo above and to the left.) My brother and I were both in the middle of our education. Dad was worried about supporting the family. After showing in New York he felt that somehow he had made it. Little did he realized what Leo Castelli could do for an artist's career.

Dad never pursued his art career any further. The Gallery thrived he bought estates of artists, one of the largest being that of Herman Herzog. He had paintings by most of America's well known Artist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the last estates that he purchased was the Eliot Candee Clark estate.

At one point he sold a Renoir to the Norfolk Museum. My mother brags about having slept over Monet and Renoir. Dad had them on consignment and he worried about their safety. So, he stashed them under their bed at night. In fact, when they left for a trip my husband and I were entrusted with their keep and we also slept over both a Monet and a Renoir. We carried the Renoir around with us wrapped in our dog's blanket. Later it was put on display at the Virginia Beach Board Walk Art Show, as art having been donated by the school children of Norfolk. There was a guard and ropes to keep people back. If only they had know.

My Dad was the caretaker of our family. He was the middle child but he was the one the whole family looked up to even his older brother. Our house was where they all gathered.

Before he died he was intent on making sure that his family was taken care of. He worried particularly about me and my sons. Being a divorced mother of three sons, he worried about how we would survive without his support. He purchased the building, that houses our shop, thinking that we could have an art gallery. There were not enough paintings to fill 8,400 sq feet. But antiques and art go together. Two of my sons got their start in very good businesses from that building. How pleased he must have been. We all feel as though he is still taking care of us. Scott my middle son has his own auto repair business thanks to a loan from Dad's trust. Chris, Lewis,and I feel as though he watches out for us giving us nudges in the right direction toward finding our treasures. I personally miss being able to ask his advise, but know that somehow, with his guidance, I'll make the right choices. He spent his life teaching us.