Larry Lewis (1919-2004) worked as a secretary at United Oil Products, in Connecticut, USA. His sketchbooks were done in private, and shown to only a few people. ‘He hand inked and painted brilliantly colored pages of ledger books and then created collages from photocopies of collected Victorian ephemera, images of movie stars from the 1920’s and 30’s and newspaper ads.’

‘Each page and spread [were] composed as a painting unto itself,’ sometimes with cut out fold outs. ‘He made larger books by hand’ when needed. He never finished any of his books. ‘He worked randomly and haphazardly through each one.’

Larry’s many volumes of sketchbooks were discovered after he died.

More of his sketchbooks and info at the Larry Lewis Website.

Text and images © Sharyn Prentiss Laughton, 2022. Used with permission.