Large William Lewis Lester (Texas, 1910-1991) oil on canvas Expressionist landscape painting, titled "Ship Channel", depicting a bird's eye view of a man-made waterway emptying into a body of water to the right with a tree line, road, and hills in the midground and a lock system with ships in the background below a blue sky. Signed, titled and dated 1959 en verso. Additional handwritten label with artist name, title, year, and Austin, TX and additional numbering, en verso. Housed and matted in a modern ebonized wooden frame with a white wooden fillet. Sight: 29 5/8" H x 43 3/4" W. Frame: 36" H x 50 1/8" W. Biography: William Lewis Lester was raised in Dallas, TX, and studied with Thomas Stell and Olin Travis at the Dallas Art Institute. He was an active member of the Dallas Artists League from its inception in 1932 where he exerted his influence during the Great Depression in the evolution of Texas Regionalists art. Lester was also a founding member of the Lone Star Printmakers who created and exhibited lithographic prints. He taught at the school of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (Dallas Museum of Art) as well as at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also served as chairman from 1952-1954. Lester was highly influenced from the mid-1950s onwards by the striking color and compositions of Mexican artworks, particularly the works of Rufino Tamayo, which led his painting towards greater levels of abstraction. He has been exhibited at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, the Rockefeller Center, The New York World's Fair Exhibition, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Pan American Union. His work is permanently exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Witte Museum, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the American Embassy in Paris among many others. (Adapted from "Lester, William Lewis" by Earl D. Weed and Paul D. Lester, published Oct. 1, 1995 in the handbook of Dallas-Fort Worth; accessed 11/17/21 https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lester-william-lewis)

PROVENANCE: The Estate of Carl Klein, Brentwood, Tennessee.

CONDITION: Oil on canvas in overall very good condition with minute warping at the top and bottom edges, largest measuring 13" L. Frame with scattered surface scratches and some chips.