The legacy of Ted Lewis: Whanganui war artist who captured the Kiwi spirit

Ted Lewis' daughter, Marion Davidson, with her father's painting of Monte Cassino in Italy. This painting is on the front cover of the book I Was No Soldier – An Artist's War Diary, written about Lewis.

Do you know Whanganui had its own war artist?

William Edwin Walker Lewis, fondly known as Ted Lewis, was born in Nelson on November 3, 1908.

Lewis married and moved to Whanganui in 1950, where he was head of the Art Department at Whanganui Technical College and then Art Master at Whanganui Collegiate School.

He passed away in 1992, at his home in St Johns Hill, Whanganui, leaving behind a legacy of his sketches, paintings and cartoons, which are now housed at the Sarjeant Gallery.

Here, you can gauge from his cartoons that Lewis was a man who, even under the stress of war, had a sense of humour which he shared amongst his comrades.

His introduction to art began in 1924 when he left for England, learning interior decoration, architectural drawing, lettering and design.

Lewis studied part-time at Harrogate School of Art.

In 1927, he was awarded a Yorkshire County Craft Scholarship for one year of fulltime study at the Harrogate School of Art and in 1928, he was awarded another Yorkshire County Craft Scholarship, this time for three years of study at The Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.

In 1931, Lewis graduated from the RCA and also obtained AIBD status (Associate of the Institute of British Decorators and Interior Design).

He returned to New Zealand and took up a position as Arts Master at Hamilton Technical College and then as Assistant Art Master at Wellington Technical College.

Then in 1941, Lewis enlisted for war service, joining the medical corps on the Maunganui, a hospital ship.

He served in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) regiment and saw action in Egypt, Palestine, Tripolitania, Tunisia and Italy.

Whenever off-duty, Lewis sketched and painted, often in dramatic and dangerous situations.

When the official war artist Peter McIntyre went off to the front, Lewis’ artistic talents were soon discovered and this led to his secondment as a map-maker for General Freyberg.

Lewis was often given dispensation from his map drawing to also paint on the front, happier with a paintbrush in his hand than a gun.

With pen, ink and wash, he captured the atmosphere of the Middle East and Italy under the shadow of war.

His wry cartoons, which he mainly drew while in Italy for the NZEF Times, epitomised Kiwi humour and spirit and helped preserve sanity in a fighting division.

Then there was the human side of Lewis, being a father and husband as well as an artist.

His daughter Marion Davidson said: “He was fiercely correct in his drawing, with trees being his favourite object to draw.”

“He was the world’s greatest encourager and with his infectious humour, he could have easily been an actor.”

And she should know, as he taught her to paint with watercolours, as that was his choice of media because it was so easy to transport.

“My father loved beautiful handmade paper and the feel of beautiful sable brushes, something he passed down to me,” Davidson said.

Religion had always played a large part in his life and in his later years, he became ordained as a minister in the Anglican Church.

He also made a mark in his hometown, where he designed Whanganui’s Coat of Arms.