Young Couple

Jeannette Maxfield Lewis

By 1963 Jeannette Maxfield Lewis had four decades of work under her belt, with a style that ranged from classical to Expressionist and beyond. Depending on what she wanted to convey, the Bay Area based artist could render a scene with as much delicate saturation as a Monet before switching to an industrial angularity; or, in the case of “Young Couple,” something more akin to illustrative observation, finding the caricatures of everyday urban life.

Two young hipsters walk hand-in-hand along a city street, the facade of an art gallery in the background. They wear loose, patterned trousers and sandals, and the ubiquitous long sleeved, form fitting black tops of the San Francisco Beat era. The image could as easily be a comic in a newspaper as a serious etching, informing the viewer that for all of her formal art training, Lewis found and captured the humor and charm of the everyday.