Edgar de Evia

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deEvia.com Logo designed with pen and ink ca. 1970 by Edgar de Evia
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deEvia.com Logo designed with pen and ink ca. 1970 by Edgar de Evia

Edgar Domingo Evia y Joutard, known professionally as Edgar de Evia (July 30, 1910 – February 10, 2003), was an Mexican-born American photographer and author.

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 and advertising campaigns for General Motors, Borden Ice Cream, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, Jell-O, Revlon, among other corporations.

Contents

[edit] 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.
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Edgar de Evia, circa 1930.

[edit] Careers

[edit] Homeopathy research

After briefly working for the Associated Press[citation needed], he became 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." To assist de Evia in his research responsibilities, Stearns gave him his first camera, a Rolleiflex.[citation needed]

[edit] Photography

Another of de Evia's early mentors was the magazine editor Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, who gave him his first assignment for Town & Country magazine. [citation needed]

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]

A romantic photograph of a 1937 Rolls-Royce, which had belonged to Barbara Hutton, near which de Evia's then companion, Robert Denning, was posed, pushing a girl in a swing, won de Evia the General Motors' Body by Fisher account in the early 1950s[citation needed].

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, including those of Sakowitz in Houston and Gimbel's in New York [citation needed].

[edit] Models photographed

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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:

[edit] Personalities photographed

De Evia also produced commissioned photographic portraits of individuals well-known in the social, film, music, and theatre worlds, including the following:

[edit] Editorial photography

The citations given are only a fraction of de Evia's known published work.[18]

[edit] 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.

[edit] Commercial photography

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] References

  1. ^ For information about her recitals in America, both on stage and radio, see the following: The New York Times, 17 June 1928 (p. 133), 13 February 1931 (p. 21), 13 November 1932 (p. X7), and 15 November 1932 (p. 19).
  2. ^ http://www.congresoyucatan.gob.mx/interes/HISTORIA/congreso_constituyente1.htm, http://www.merida.gob.mx/ayunta2004/InformesMensuales/Gobernacion/2004/diciembre/normatividad.pdf, and http://www.yucatan.gob.mx/servicios/diario_oficial/diarios/2006-08-18.pdf. The quote is taken from "Tourism 'Wars' in the Yucatan", which is posted on the website of the American Anthropological Association at http://www.aaanet.org/press/an/infocus/Heritage_In_Focus/Castaneda.htm. The article was written by Quetzil E. Castaneda, an affiliate assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Washington and the founding director and professor of The Open School of Anthropology and Ethnography.
  3. ^ [1]. According to Oden and Olivia Meeker, "Awesome Mayaland," The New York Times, 28 November 1948, p. X15, Don Fernando Barbachano Peon -- a grandson of Miguel Barbachano y Tarrazo and therefore a first cousin of de Evia's father -- was the first Yucatecan entrepreneur to establish a hotel next to Chichen Itza, which stands on land co-owned by the family, and develop tours of it and other Mayan ruins for foreign tourists. The family's tourism development and co-ownership of the land under Chichen Itza and other Mayan ruins is examined by Quetzil E. Casteneda on the website of the American Anthropological Association's, http://www.aaanet.org. The Barbachano's involvement in the development of Rosarito is traced in Jenna Cavelle's 2005 article for the San Diego Union, "The Colorful City of Rosarito Celebrates the 80th Anniversary of the Rosarito Beach Hotel", which is posted at http://www.rosarito.com/rs-resortwatch.htm.
  4. ^ According to the ship's manifest, which can be accessed at http://www.ellisisland.org, several members of the Evia family immigrated from Mexico to New York at the same time, including Evia's paternal aunt Rosario Evia de Espejo and her husband and children. In the manifest, his father, Domingo, gave his occupation as farmer. According to the manifest, the family's surname was Evia, not de Evia.
  5. ^ The head of the Dalton School Alumni Office confirmed this date of graduation by telephone on 28 August 2006; http://www.dalton.org.
  6. ^ According to http://www.ellisisland.org, original ship manifests and passport information pertaining to the family's immigration to the United States in 1912 give the family's surname as EVIA.
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ [3]
  9. ^ "Color in Review: Popular Photography's Color Annual Surveys Medium's Current Status", The New York Times, 19 May 1957, page X17
  10. ^ "about Photography with Edgar de Evia" by William A. Reedy, p. 16 Studio Light/Commercial Camera v.2 no. 2 1970.
  11. ^ Melvin Sokolsky’s Affinities by Martin Harrison as reproduced on the web Melvin Sokolsky Seeing Fashion retrieved June 29, 2006. For a career-wide view of Sokolsky's work, see his website, http://www.sokolsky.com. For reference to his work for Vogue and other publications, see Sokolsky interview
  12. ^ According to David McJonathan-Swarm, who was de Evia's companion and business partner from 1966 until 2003.
  13. ^ According to former art director Marty Stevens, as quoted in the De Evia website guestbook
  14. ^ Edgar de Evia Archives, New York City, New York. Scholars who wish to access this archive for research purposes can contact the executor of de Evia's estate through the email address listed at deevia.com.
  15. ^ Edgar de Evia Archives, New York City, New York
  16. ^ Edgar de Evia Archives, New York City, New York
  17. ^ De Evia's photographic portrait of Totenberg is featured in the article "Among the Week's Recitalists," The New York Times, 28 March 1948, p. X7. He is the father of National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.
  18. ^ According to records held by the Condé Nast Publications Library, in 1984 alone, de Evia had 193 photographs published in House & Garden, primarily of interiors of houses owned by individuals such as Helen Hayes and Gloria Vanderbilt. The Condé Nast Publication Library is an archive facility which holds, among other things, thousands of typewritten 3 x 5 cards which serve as an early index to all photographers and writers (as well as subjects and celebrities) whose work was published in any and all Condé Nast magazines from the early 1900s until the 1990s, when all such material was put on computer. In the case of photographers, for instance, the cards list in which issue and on which page number an image (or images) by that particular photographer appeared on. According to these index cards, more than 1,000 photographs by de Evia were published in Condé Nast magazines, on subjects ranging from fashion to food to interiors. These were printed in Vogue, Architectural Digest, and other magazines, from the 1950s until the 1990s.
  19. ^ Confirmed via holdings of Town & Country at the New York Public Library, Research Division, New York City, New York
  20. ^ Condé Nast Publications Library, New York City, New York
  21. ^ Condé Nast Publications Library, New York City, New York
  22. ^ The Petticoat Craze retrieved August 28, 2006
  23. ^ Seven photographic sheets from de Evia's shoot for this article are in the Look Magazine Photograph Collection, which is held at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., call number LOOK - Job 68-3978. Information about these images, which were taken on 14 November 1968, can be accessed at Library of Congress, retrieved 28 August 2006
  24. ^ Edgar de Evia Archives, New York City, New York
  25. ^ Mitchell Owens, "Robert Denning, Champion of Lavish Décor, The New York Times, 5 September 2005, page B7
  26. ^ Information from de Evia's companion, David McJonathan-Swarm, executor of the photographer's estate
  27. ^ Confirmed by Little Church Around the Corner


[edit] External links

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