Harry Emerson Lewis was born in Hutchinson, Kansas on February 28, 1892. He studied art early in life with his father Edward Henry Lewis and furthered his art training at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1912-13. 

After serving as an instructor of camouflage in the Army in WWI, he spent three years studying art in Florence, Milan, Rome, and the Sorbonne in Paris. 

Returning to the United States, he worked for awhile in the Boston studio of Alexander Robinson before entering the Art Institute of Chicago for further study. He later taught there until his move to Southern California in 1924. 

Lewis lived in Hollywood and in 1931 moved to San Francisco. Around 1945 he moved to Laguna Beach, and the last four years of his life were spent in Santa Ana, California, where he died on August 17, 1958. 

A highly versatile artist, Harry Emerson Lewis is best known for his watercolor landscapes; he also did portraits and commercial illustrations. 

Member: San Francisco Art Association; Bay Region Art Association; Palette & Chisel Club, Chicago; Western Art Association; Society for Sanity in Art; Los Angeles Art Association; Oakland Art Association; and Santa Cruz Art Association. 

Exhibitions: Delgado Museum, New Orleans; Beaux Arts, Paris; American Painters & Sculptors; Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, 1931; Artists Fiesta, Los Angeles, 1931 (first prize); California Statewide, Santa Cruz, 1932; Santa Cruz Art League, 1934, 1938; Los Angeles Art Association, 1934 (award); California State Fair, 1938 (award); California Palace of Legion of Honor, 1939 (award); National Defense Poster, 1941 (award). 

Collections: California Historical Society; Department of Internal Revenue; Grand Rapids Music College; Roosevelt and El Dorado Hotels, Hollywood. 

Source: Artists in California, 1786-1940, Edan Hughes