Lewis Henry Meakin (American, 1850–1917) was born in Newcastle, England, in 1850. His family immigrated to Canada in 1860 and settled in Cincinnati three years later. After studying art in Europe, Meakin returned to Cincinnati, where he became a lifelong instructor at the Cincinnati Art Academy. A key figure in Midwestern landscape painting, Meakin began his career working in the Tonalist style before shifting toward Impressionism around the turn of the 20th century.

In 1891, he painted along the New England coast in Gloucester and Camden, and in 1893–94, he traveled with William Lamb Picknell (1853-1897) through Paris, Normandy, and southern France. From 1911 until his death in 1917, Meakin served as curator at the Cincinnati Art Museum. He was held in high esteem by his contemporaries.  George Wesley Bellows once described him as “one of the best landscape painters in America.”

Studied

McMicken School of Design 1877-81; Art Academy of Cincinnati with T.S. Noble; in Munich with Raupp, Gysis & Loeffts, 1882-86, 1890; Duveneck, 1891; Paris

Member

ANA, 1914; SWA (founder, pres.); Cincinnati AC; SC; Pan-Pac. Expo., San Francisco, 1915 (jury member)

Exhibited

McMicken School of Design 1877-82; Cincinnati Indust. Expo, 1881; PAFA Ann., 1892-1916; Boston AC, 1885, 1896; NAD, 1892-95; Cincinnati AM, 1894-1916,1936,1942; AIC, 1895-1916; Carnegie Inst., 1896-98, 1901, 1903-04, 1913; SWA, 1897-1913, 1906 (prize); Cincinnati AC, 1902; St. LouisExpo, 1904 (silver); Columbus Gal., FA, 1924; AIC, 1907; Corcoran Gal. biennials,1907-16 (6 times); NAC; St. Botolphe Cl., Boston; Pratt Institute, 1907 (solo); Appalachian Expo., Knoxville, 1911 (silver); Chicago, 1911 (prize); Exh. Am. Art, Berlin, 1914; Corcoran Gal., 1914; Univ. Cincinnati, 1968; Cincinnati Art Gal., 1987 (respective)

Work

Cincinnati Art Museum; Indianapolis AA; AIC

References

WW15; R. Boyle, exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Galleries (1987); Cincinnati Painters of the Golden Age; Falk, Exh. Record Series