Hewit, Mabel (1903-1984)

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1903 - 1984

Biography

Born in Conneaut, Ohio, and raised in Youngstown, Mabel Amelia Hewit (1903-1984) lived in Cleveland the last 50 years of her life and exhibited works every year from 1935 to 1956 in the museum's May Show, an annual exhibition for regional artists. In 1933 she visited Provincetown, Massachusetts, and learned the white-line color woodcut method from its most famous practitioner Blanche Lazzell. Hewit explored and perfected this technique during her five-decade-long career, exemplifying America's interest in the color woodcut, a trend that began at the end of the 19th century. Influenced by Precisionism, Cubism, and Art Deco, Hewit experimented with modernist ideas, producing charming color woodcuts in a contemporary style. Multitalented, she also printed woodblocks on fabric and produced lithographs, watercolors, ceramics, and enamels on metal. In 1980, at the age of 77, Hewit remarked, "Art was my life."

Jane Glaubinger, PhD., Curator of Prints, Cleveland Museum of Art

Occupations

Artist

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Mabel Hewit scrapbooks

Collection

Identifier: 1111.118

Scope and Contents note This collection comprises of two bound scrapbooks. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, exhibition catalogs, correspondence, and awards. The scrapbooks were compiled sometime after 1960 and each one spans roughly thirty years. Both are arranged in a rough chronological order. One is committed to the documentation of Mabel Hewit's interaction with the May Show and covers from 1936 to 1961. The second scrapbook has a broader scope, comprising of materials not related to the May Show....

Dates: 1933-1963

Found in: Cleveland Museum of Art Archives / Mabel Hewit scrapbooks