Mervyn Levy was a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 artist, art dealer, writer and critic. He is also known for his association with the poet Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...

 as one of The Kardomah Gang.

Levy first met Thomas at primary school in Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

. While studying art in London, he shared digs with Alfred Janes

Alfred Janes

Alfred George Janes was a Welsh artist, who is also remembered as one of The Kardomah Gang; a group of bohemian friends that included the poets Dylan Thomas and Vernon Watkins, and the composer Daniel Jones....

 and Dylan Thomas, both friends from his home town. Levy drew several portraits of Dylan.

He had a distinguished career as a critic, and produced studies of James Whistler

James Whistler

James Whistler is the name of:* James Abbott McNeill Whistler , American-born, British-based artist, known for the painting colloquially known as Whistler's Mother...

, L. S. Lowry

L. S. Lowry

Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist born in Barrett Street, Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years at 117 Station Road , opposite St...

 and D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...

. His pencil portrait of LS Lowry (1961), is held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, United Kingdom....

, Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

.

Works

• The Paintings of L S Lowry (Jupiter, 1977)
• The Lambert Collection (September Press, Wellingborough, 1988)