James Lewicki
American artist (1917-1979)
James Lewicki (December 13, 1917 – December 12, 1979) was a 20th-century American artist and illustrator who worked for many of the magazines of his day and extensively for Life magazine. His book illustrations include The Life Treasury of American Folklore, The World We Live In (Life magazine), The Golden Bough written by Sir James Frazer and published by the Limited Editions Club (see The Heritage Press) and The Golden Book of Christmas Tales, written by his wife, Lillian. Lewicki also explored the Christmas theme in magazines and created cards for the American Artists Group.
Life and works
Life history
Lewicki, the second child of Ukrainian immigrants was born on December 13, 1917, in Buffalo, New York, to Max and Alexandra Lewicki. His teachers recognized his talent from an early age and he went on to attend Buffalo Technical High School, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies), and Pratt Institute, where he graduated in illustration in 1939.
He married Lillian Schalow in 1943, also an illustration major at Pratt Institute, who partnered with him on many projects throughout his career as researcher, draftsman, studio assistant and secretary. They had two children, Roy Lewicki and Lisa Lewicki Hermanson. First living in Brooklyn, then Hollis, New York, they moved to Centerport, New York (on Long Island) in 1952, where they built a house and studio.
As an illustrator, Lewicki was always looking for a story to turn into pictures, and that included tapping personal experience. In 1952 he sold Life Goes Camping with the Lewickis to Life magazine, and in the 1970s wrote and illustrated The Territory for Yankee (magazine), based on his experiences with a cherished vacation home in the woods of northern Vermont.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James Lewicki” as american artist (1917-1979). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american artist (1917-1979). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q84056431. VIAF identifies the subject as 191797862. The Library of Congress control number is n85068331. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1979, 1939 and 1943.
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This entry incorporates text from “James Lewicki” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.