David Stanley Hewett is one of Japan’s best-known foreign-born artists. As a young man he became interested in the country through his study of karate and ceramics in New York and later majored in Japanese history at the University of Massachusetts and Hokkaido University. He first visited Japan in 1988 and has made it his home, living and working in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture. His love for Japanese art and culture has motivated him to study ceramics, traditional painting, obi design and, most notably, the techniques for making byōbu, traditional screens.
Hewett specializes in large paintings for hotels and private residences, working closely with interior designers, architects, and major corporations to create site-specific art. His paintings can be seen in the permanent collections of the Ritz Carlton Kyoto, the Peninsula Hotel, the Imperial Hotel, the Hotel Okura Tokyo,
the Oakwood Premier Hotel, and many other public spaces.
In November 2017, his painting Majime was selected as the official gift from Akie Abe, wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to the First Lady of the United States. In 2019, the painting was inducted into the National Archives Collection of the United States of America.