Lewis was born in Wales and studied at the Newport School of Art in Wales from 1923 to 1926. He was then awarded a place at the Royal College of Art in London, where he studied from 1926 until 1930. In 1930 he won second prize in the Rome Scholarship Awards in Mural Painting, and later that year returned home to take up the post of Painting Master at Newport School of Art. In 1939 World War II was declared and he was called up in 1941 for initial training in North Wales and joined the Searchlight Regiment of the Gloucestershire RegimentinSomerset. After the war Stanley Lewis became Principal of Carmarthen School of Art where he taught until his retirement in 1967. Stanley Lewis, together with his wife, Minnie Lewis, were the author and illustrator of the book "Laugharne and Dylan Thomas", about their friend and neighbour, the poet Dylan Thomas. He held a three-man show at the Bruton Gallery with the sculptors Michael Ayrton and Enzo Plazzotta.
In the 2006 New Year Honours Lewis was awarded the MBE for services to the arts.[4] Until his death he was working on an illustrated book of his wartime experiences.
