# James Otto Lewis artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/james-otto-lewis/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T16:25:30.281Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Common media: Engraving and printmaking, Painting, Portraiture

## About James Otto Lewis

James Otto Lewis (1799–1858) was an American painter, engraver, and portraitist. Library and artist-authority records consistently identify his lifespan and professional roles. He is chiefly associated with portraits of Native American leaders and other people represented within the nineteenth-century American frontier context. His best-known publication is The Aboriginal Port-Folio, a collection devoted to portraits of prominent North American Indigenous leaders. Lewis therefore appears in collections and catalogues through both his identity as an artist and the printed portrait material connected with that publication. Collectors may encounter his name on engraved portraits, printed portfolio material, or works catalogued as paintings. The sources collected here do not assign Lewis to a specific art movement, so his work is more accurately situated through its period, media, portrait practice, subjects, and publication history. Careful cataloguing should identify the sitter and distinguish an original work, an engraving, and a later reproduction.

## Common works and media

Works encountered under James Otto Lewis's name are most likely to include engraved or otherwise printed portraits, especially images of Native American leaders associated with The Aboriginal Port-Folio. Paintings and portrait works may also appear. Cataloguing should distinguish original paintings from engravings, portfolio plates, and later reproductions, while recording the sitter and any documented publication relationship.

## Market and appraisal context

Appraisal begins by identifying the type of object: a painting, an engraving, another printed image, or a later reproduction. For works related to The Aboriginal Port-Folio, the sitter, publication context, and evidence connecting the impression to a documented issue can materially affect comparison with public records. Attribution should also be examined carefully because imagery associated with a publication may circulate separately from an original work by Lewis. The collected source pack establishes the artist's identity and principal subject matter but includes no usable major-auction-house results or realized-price evidence. Any market conclusion should therefore be based on verified object details and genuinely comparable public sales rather than on the artist name or directory count alone.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For James Otto Lewis, the present identity evidence is stronger than the collected market evidence.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6140699
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/957644/
- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/079284701
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500020139
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84043744
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Otto_Lewis
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Otto_Lewis