Born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, Staffordshire, England, artist Lewis Henry Meakin, the son of a pottery maker, immigrated with his family to Montreal, Canada in 1860. In 1863 the family moved to Cincinnati, OH, where Meakin, in 1877, would enroll in the McMicken School of Design School of Design (University of Cincinnati). In 1882 Meakin traveled to study at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany, where he studied under Karl Raupp, Nikolaus Gyzis and Ludwig von Löfftz until 1886. While in Germany, Meakin visited picturesque Schliessheim and Augsburg to paint. He also spent time in Paris, France. When he returned to Cincinnati in 1887, he accepted a teaching position at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. In the 1890s, he began visiting Gloucester, Massachusetts and Camden, Maine, the latter was to become his summer home. Meakin returned to France in 1893 for a year’s stay that included visits to southern France, Paris, the Normandy Coast to paint with William Lamb Picknell, and at Moret-sur-Loing, where he met Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley. Meakin’s style evolved from Tonalism to impressionism; however, he was concerned that “excesses” associated with this “craze” may have a detrimental effect. Artist George Bellows believed Meakin to be one of the best landscape painters in America at the time. Meakin helped found the Society of Western Artists in 1896 and would go on to become its president. He made his first trip to the American Southwest and Canadian Rockies in 1910. Lewis Henry Meakin was a member of the Cincinnati Art Association and the Society of American Artists. He exhibited at the McMicken School of Design (1877-1882); Cincinnati Industrial Exposition (1881); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, 1892-1916); Boston Art Club (1885, 1896); National Academy of Design (NYC, 1892-1895); Cincinnati Art Museum (1894, 1916, 1936, 1942); Art Institute of Chicago (1895-1916, 1911 - prize); Carnegie Institute (1896-98, 1901, 1903-04, 1913); Society of Western Artists (1897-1913, 1906 - prize); Cincinnati Art Club, 1902); Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, 1904 - silver); Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, 1904 - silver); National Arts Club (NYC, 1907); Corcoran Gallery Biennials (Washington D.C., 1907-16); Pratt Institute NYC, 1907, solo); Appalachian Exposition (Knoxville, TN, 1911 - silver); Panama Pacific Exposition (San Francisco, 1915, jury member); St. Botolph Club (Boston).