Inspiration - Schell Lewis

I happened on an old Harvard Magazine (March April 2009) yesterday while sorting out moving boxes in the attic. (No, I’m not Ivy, my son is). It had an article on the Supreme Court with a rendering of the Supreme Court building in Washington. The rendering was by Schell Lewis, an excellent but now forgotten architectural delineator.

It struck a chord with me. First, it was sad that such a talented artist was now completely forgotten. And second, it reminded me that I had gathered images for a blog post on him; a post that was filed away when I found so little biographical information.

Since I’m more interested in the art than the artist, I’ve decided to post what little I’ve got.

According to the 1920 census, Schell Lewis was born about 1887 in Moline, Illinois (I found a site suggesting that he was born in 1875, but that seems improbable). By 1920 he became known for his skill in architectural delineation. He worked in the office of Charles A. Platt for years, but by the late 1920s he was doing professional renderings for other architects. He was active into his 60s, with little evidence of age. The latest image I could find was from 1960.

The following is from Pencil Points magazine, vol. 2, 1921
“Though Mr. Schell Lewis has made many excellent perspective drawings and sketches he has not specialized in rendering… His charcoal drawings, made as a means of studying the designs in the office and not as presentation drawings, convey the character of the designs admirably and are done with great facility.
Mr. Lewis was born in Moline, Ill., but his family removed to New York when he was a youth. After acquiring the rudiments of drafting he entered an architect’s office in New York. Then, after a few attempts, he secured a place in the office of Mr. Charles A. Platt, in whose organization he has been continuously excepting six months with the U. S. Shipping Board and six month with Trowbridge & Ackerman.
All of Mr. Lewis’ work shows an appreciation of architectural character as well as a knowledge of architectural design.”

I first saw Lewis’s work in Drafting Room Practice by Eugene Clute (Pencil Points Press 1928). I found an old copy in a used book store years ago. There was no biographical information, but they reproduced a number of wonderful architectural detail studies done in charcoal.

The only other story I found concerning Lewis’s work is in The President as Architect: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Top Cottage, By John G. Waite Associates, Architects. In 1938 President Roosevelt sketched out the design for a “cottage” on his Hyde Park property north of New York City. Lewis, who did regular work for Henry J. Toombs, FDR’s favorite architect, was brought on to do a couple pencil renderings for a publicity brochure. Being a “traditional” renderer familiar with traditional architecture, he fit in perfectly with FDR’s love of the old country style of building.

Here are a few additional images which show something of Lewis’s rendering process. His preliminary sketches are nice examples of value studies produced by all artists of the time. The preliminary working out the light and dark areas ensures an image that presents the subject in a pleasing way. See my post on Gustave Doré for more of the same, as well as all of my posts on composition.

Prelim sketch for Cadet Barracks at U S Military Academy

Finished rendering of Cadet Barracks at U S Military Academy

Prelim study for an aerial view of a Church

Prelim sketch for a rendering of a Church

Finished rendering of a Church

Unfinished Prelim study for a Church

______________________________


The following images are all of the Schell Lewis renderings that I could find on the internet. They are arranged in roughly chronological order. Comments are included as I felt the need.

1088 Park Avenue New York City, 1924

This and the next 6 renderings are nice examples of subtle value manipulation used to enliven otherwise dull forms.

Apartment Block in New York City, 1926

Proposed Development at Warm Springs, Georgia, 1926

111 John Street, New York City, 1927

15 East 39th Street New York City, 1928

1441 Broadway, New York City, 1929

Bronx County Jail, New York City, 1931

_________________________

Proposed Chapel at Kent School, Kent, Connecticut  1929

The image above was the only interior rendering that I found.

Georgia Building, 1933

Chapin School in New York City, 1935

The following 4 renderings are from the 1939 World’s Fair, held in New York City. Both Hugh Ferriss and John Wenrich did illustrations for the fair.

Court of the States Building, Inner court collonnade & tower

Court of the States Building, Inner court

Court of the States Building, Spanish grouping

Court of the States Building, West court

___________________________

Band Building, 1947

Mallory Gymnasium, Rhodes College, 1949

Toronto City Hall proposal, 1955

Trezevant Hall, Rhodes College, 1959

Moore Moore Infirmary, Rhodes College, 1960

Proposal for Mahan Hall at West Point, 1967

Lewis seems to have preferred pencil throughout his career, but was clearly a master of ink as well, as shown in the last two images I found. The first is copied from the internet and is very low resolution. The second image (noted simply as "brick house") is scanned from Arthur L. Guptill's classic Rendering in Pen and Ink, and is detailed enough to show both the overall composition and the satisfying details.

Burrow Library, Rhodes College, 1951

So, what do I take away from all this?
Schell Lewis is inspiring because he blends the large, conceptual view with the rendering of crisp detail. “Fine” artists can often get away with a broad-brush splash of emotion or symbolism (the rest is commentary). Architects, on the other hand, are usually obsessed with the details: “God is in the details”. But both scales of view are necessary.
The architectural illustrator must needs do both. Yet, it is unusual to find someone who can mix the two extremes so seamlessly as Schell Lewis did.

Hand & CAD - The Wireframe Years - 7

This post is a continuation of my look at Cooper Robertson’s design for Disney’s Buena Vista Studios in Hollywood, California (1990). The previous post covered 8 mundanely informative views. This post will cover two of the more interesting views.

The first view is a ground level view of the food bar proposed for the base of the water tower. All drawings are an 8” square format.

The first wireframe sketch started with the rough CAD model that I used for the aerial shots (see previous post). The shading provides a vague idea of the space and structure.

In this second round sketch I’ve created a much more understandable image. I copied the CAD model and used the copy to eliminate all parts of the model that couldn’t be seen from this viewpoint. I then used pastel and pencil to evoke a sunlit spot.

In the third pass the viewpoint was adjusted slightly, and the design was developed and detailed.

After some minor adjustments this ink line drawing was produced on mylar…

… and color was added with transparent ink applied with an airbrush.

The second example is a view of the main entry gate; which was essentially a three dimensional logo/sign for the Disney property. The design was fairly set, so I expected a straightforward drawing process, with the viewpoint as the only unknown.

A close view seen on a diagonal was preferred, but the near tower was cut off.  Note the lack of line hiding or shading. These were quick shots to establish viewpoint.

Here we are further back, but still at an angle to the gate.

This view is almost directly in front of the gate.

Finally, this view, which is slightly off center, was chosen.

Minor design changes and detailing was added.

Additional minor details were added, and the confusing hidden lines were eliminated on the print with white out.

Shade and shadow was added on a Xerox print with pastel and pencil. At this point I thought we had an interesting basis for a finished rendering.

Unfortunately, the design was considered insufficiently “Disney”. A new design was worked up, and I revised the CAD model. This time a medium close-up view was tried on a diagonal, so as to include the “Team Disney” building (Michael Graves and the Seven Dwarves).

A bit of pastel and pencil helped separate the gate from the background forms.

It was decided to move the viewpoint back. This would allow a full view of the “Team Disney” building as well as a better understanding of the undulating fence.

In working up this pastel and pencil study, I realized that the major challenge would be separating the gate from the façade of the building behind. Both were rather complex and “busy” forms, so I was going to have to punch up the gate and grey out the building.

I decided to use stippling on the building and solid lines on the gate. It was a rather tricky business on such a small drawing (about 8” square), but I thought (and still think) it worked.

The client never asked for a color rendition of this view, but I later did one for fun. I softened and lightened the stipple on the far building with sprayed opaque white paint. Then I airbrushed transparent ink color. The result is pretty successful, although there is an awful lot of depth and detail in a very small finished painting. The only discordant bit in the drawing is the perspective of the “Team Disney” building, which can’t be helped since it is not perpendicular to the street and the rest of the buildings.