Born in Australia, Martin Lewis arrived in the USA in 1900. He is one of the finest artists of the 'American scene' a name loosely given to those artists who specialised in recording the USA, both rural and urban, during the first three or four decades of the 20th century. He trained as a painter, but his most successful works are prints. He was especially gifted in drypoint, an engraving process in which the thin threads of metal thrown up when the plate is gouged by the burin, stay to the side of the engraved line and hold ink during the printing process, producing a delicately smudged effect. Lewis exploited the process to produce subtle variations of density and texture. Among his finest images are scenes of night-time New York, where he used the dramatic geometry of shadows to startling effect.