EDGAR DE EVIA
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Self portrait of Edgar de Evia reflected with the oil portrait of himself as a child (circa 1990).
'Edgar Domingo Evia y Joutard', known professionally as 'Edgar de Evia' (July 30, 1910 – February 10, 2003), was a Mexican-born American photographer.
In a career that spanned the 1940s through the 1990s, his photography appeared in magazines and newspapers such as ''Town & Country'', ''House & Garden'', ''Look'' and ''The New York Times Magazine'' and advertising campaigns for Borden Ice Cream, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, Jell-O among other corporations.
Birth and family
De Evia was born in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. His mother was Pauline Joutard (1890-1957), a French-born pianist who performed under the stage name Miirrha Alhambra.[1] His father was Domingo Fernando Evia y Barbachano (1883-1977), a wealthy landowner who was a member of two families that have been prominent in the politics and culture of Yucatán since the mid 19th century, one of which, the Barbachanos, has been described as "one of the most powerful of Yucatán's oligarchy."[2]
His great-grandfather Don Miguel Barbachano y Tarrazo (1806–1859) was a five-time governor of Yucatán and the patriarch of a clan that was instrumental in developing the Mexican resorts of Cozumel and Playas de Rosarito in Baja California Norte and in popularizing the ruins of Chichen Itza as a tourist attraction.[3] Among his cousins was Manuel Barbachano Ponce, the Mexican film producer and director.
On 30 June 1912, at the age of two, Evia arrived with his family in New York City aboard the liner "Progreso".[4] He graduated from The Dalton School in 1931.[5]
Based on immigration and other official records, it appears that Evia altered his surname to de Evia sometime after 1942, at which time he was using the professional name Edgar D. Evia.[6]
Edgar de Evia, circa 1930.
Careers
Homeopathy research
Edgar served as the research assistant to Dr. Guy Beckley Stearns, a homeopathic physician with whom he wrote and published articles and one book about homeopathy.
For ''Laurie's Domestic Medicine'', a medical guide published in 1942, Stearns and Edgar D. Evia contributed an essay called "''The New Synthesis''", which was expanded that same year into a book entitled "''The Physical Basis of Homeopathy and the New Synthesis''". In the New England Journal of Homeopathy (Spring/Summer 2001, Vol. 10, No. 1), Richard Moskowitz, MD, called the Stearns-Evia article "a cutting-edge essay into homeopathic research that prophesied and actually began the development of kinesiology, made original contributions to radionics, and dared to sketch out a philosophy of these still esoteric frontiers of homeopathy at a time when such matters were a lot further beyond the pale of respectable science even than they are today."[7]
The book ''The New Synthesis'' has been described as "a fascinating synthesis of various ideas about potency, the biology of reaction in organisms and techniques for measuring nervous system responses to a remedy. The book discusses pulse testing and pupilary reaction as a method of testing sensitivity to homeopathic substances."[8]
Stearns and Evia also contributed, from March until June 1942, a column entitled "''The New Synthesis''" to the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy. The pair also published, in the February 1942 issue of the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, an article entitled "''The Physical Basis of Homeopathy''".
Logo designed by Edgar de Evia in pen and ink and used by the photographer on all of his business transactions the last thrity years of his life.
Photography
Frequently producing images utilizing soft focus and diffusion, de Evia was dubbed a "master of still life" in the 1957 publication Popular Photography Color Annual. In a review of the book, ''The New York Times'' stated that "Black and white [photography] is frequently interspersed through the book and serves as a reminder that black and white still has a useful place, even in a world of color, often more convincingly as well. This is pointed up rather persuasively in the portfolio on Edgar de Evia as a 'master of still life' and in the one devoted to the work of Rene Groebil."[9]
William A. Reedy, editor of ''APPLIED PHOTOGRAPHY'', in a 1970 interview for the Eastman Kodak publication ''Studio Light/Commercial Camera'', wrote that de Evia:
"has been a photographic illustrator in New York City for many years. His work has helped sell automobiles, food, drink, furniture and countless other products. To fashion accounts he has been known as a fashion photographer, while food people think of him as a specialist in still life. While, in fact, he is a photographer, period. He applies his considerable talent and experience to whatever the problem at hand."[10]
Melvin Sokolsky, a fashion photographer who has created iconic images for Harpers Bazaar and Vogue, considered Edgar de Evia one of his earliest influences, saying, "I discovered that Edgar was paid $4,000 for a Jell-O ad, and the idea of escaping from my tenement dwelling became an incredible dream and inspiration."[11]
In 1968,[12] de Evia founded and served as creative director of a catalogue-photography company that produced photographs for a number of department-store catalogs.
Models photographed
Often using the ornate backgrounds of the historic Rhinelander Mansion in New York -- much of which he leased in the 1950s and 1960s, used as his residence, and often rented out portions of as studios and offices -- de Evia was hired, through his agent, David Chimay, to photograph some of the fashion world's top models in assignments for fashion magazines and commercial advertising.[13] The models included:
★ Lisa Fonssagrives (photograph posted in Wikimedia Commons)
★ Dovima (photograph posted in Wikimedia Commons)
★ Wilhelmina (photograph posted in Wikimedia Commons)
Personalities photographed
De Evia also produced commissioned photographic portraits of individuals well-known in the social, film, music, and theatre worlds, including the following:
★ Ethel Fogg (Mrs. William Brooks Clift), mother of Montgomery Clift[14]
★ Erik Rhodes, American film and Broadway singer and actor[15]
★ Nordstrom Sisters, American sister act, international cabaret singers[16]
★ Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist[17]
Editorial photography
The citations given are only a fraction of de Evia's known published work.[18]
★ ''Applied Photography'': ''5 expressions on a new film'' #12, 1959; ''Studies in Tone Gradation—the hallmark of excellence'' #60, 1975
★ ''Town & Country''[19]
★ ''Vogue''[20]
★ ''Architectural Digest''[20]
★ ''Glamour'': November 1979
★ ''Good Housekeeping'' November 1954[22]
★ ''House Beautiful'': May 1978
★ ''House & Garden'': June 1981; March 1982; September 1982; January 1983; February 1984 (home of Gloria Vanderbilt; October 1984 (home of Ralph Lauren); December 1984 (home of Helen Hayes; June 1990)
★ ''Look'', ''Shaggy Lamb Fashion,'' 21 January 1969[23]
★ ''The New York Times Magazine'', Home Design Special, 9 September 1979 and 8 May 1983
★ ''McCall's'': February, September, November 1951; November 1952 (all covers)
★ ''New York Magazine'', December 19, 1988 (photographed his own apartment)
★ ''After Dark'': ''Pastorale: A Photo Essay'' pp. 60–65, August 1975
★ ''Photography'': February 1952 (cover)
★ ''Women's Wear Daily'': September 25, 1981 (section cover)
★ ''W'': Summer Is... May 25–June 1, 1979; Temptations June 22–June 20, 1979; Eating In September 28–October 5, 1979; Temptations June 19–June 26, 1981; The Pleasures of Italy August 28–September 4, 1981; The Pleasures of Simple Food October 23–October 30, 1981; W Christmas November 20–November 27, 1981
Books
Books that have been illustrated with de Evia's photography include:
★ Picture Cookbook by The Editors of LIFE, Mary Hamman, Editor, New York, NY: Time Incorporated, 1958. Second edition 1959, Third edition 1960.
Commercial photography
★ Borden Ice Cream, Lady Borden campaign 1956–1960[15]
★ Milliken 1970 Breakfast Show program
★ Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation ''Life'' Fiberglas campaign 1958
★ Steinway & Sons 1967 catalog
Gallery
Relationships
In the 1950s, de Evia's companion and business partner was Robert Denning, who worked in his studio and who would become a leading American interior designer and partner in the firm Denning & Fourcade.[25] From 1966 until de Evia's death, his companion and business partner was David McJonathan-Swarm.
Death
Edgar de Evia, age 92, died at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City from pneumonia following a broken hip.[26] His ashes were interred in the columbarium of the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City.[27]
References
External links
★ Edgar de Evia's Official Homepage
★ Edgar de Evia's biographic sketch at Find A Grave
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