Edgar de Evia

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

In a career that spanned the 1940s through the 1990s, his photography appeared in magazines and newspapers such as ' House & Garden, Look and The New York Times Magazine and advertising campaigns for Borden Ice Cream and Jell-O.

Careers

Homeopathy research

Photographic self-portrait by Edgar de Evia reflected with the oil portrait by M. Jean McLane of himself as a child (circa 1990).

Edgar de Evia, circa 1930.

Logo designed by Edgar de Evia.

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."^[1]

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."^[2] "Editorial high-key food photography was introduced by Edgar D'Evia in 1953 for the pages of Good Housekeeping."^[3]

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."^[4]

Melvin Sokolsky, a fashion photographer who has created 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."^[5]

Personalities photographed

De Evia also produced commissioned photographic portraits of individuals, including Polish-American violinist Roman Totenberg ^[6] and Ralph Lauren,^[7] American fashion designer.

Editorial photography

De Evia worked for Applied Photography,^[8][9] Architectural Digest,^[10] Good Housekeeping,^[11] Shaggy Lamb Fashion,^[12] and New York Magazine (December 19, 1988 Feature article on de Evia and his apartment).^[13]

Books

Books that have been illustrated with de Evia's photography include:

• The American Annual of Photography, New York: American Photography Book Department, 1953.
• Good Housekeeping Book of Home Decoration by Mary L. Brandt, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957.
• Picture Cookbook by The Editors of LIFE, Mary Hamman, Editor, New York, NY: Time, Inc., 1958. Second edition 1959, Third edition 1960.
• The Spacemaker Book by Ellen Liman, Nancy Stahl and Lewis Wilson, New York: Viking Press, 1977.
• Fashion: The Inside Story by Barbaralee Diamonstein, New York: Rizzoli, 1985
• House & Garden's Best in Decoration by the Editors of House & Garden, New York: Condé Nast Books, Random House, 1987. De Evia's photos include the front jacket.
• Glamour's On The Run by Jane Kirby, Glamour Food Editor, New York: Condé Nast Books, Villard Books, 1987. De Evia's photos include the front & back jacket.
• Interior Design by John F. Pile, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988.
• The Tiffany Gourmet Cookbook by John Loring, New York: Doubleday, 1992.
• House Beautiful Decorating Style by Carol Cooper Garey, Hearst Books, 2005. 1992 edition published by Hearst Communications.
• Victoria On Being a Mother by Victoria Magazine Staff, Hearst Books, 2005. (1st. edition and ©1989)
• Culinary Traditions II: A Taste of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania collected by the Waynesboro Historical Society, Morris Press, 2007.

Commercial photography

De Evia worked for Borden Ice Cream (Lady Borden campaign 1956–1960),^[14] Celanese Corporation,^[15] Gorham Silver,^[16] hats by Mr. John of John-Frederics,^[17] Leather Industries of America,^[18] Maximilian Furs (1950s, all ads had the credit "DeEvia"), McCall's patterns (all ads had the credit "Photograph by Edgar de Evia"),.^[19]

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edgar de Evia.

• 
  The Little Church Around the Corner (The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, NYC)
• 
  A model reads a book in a 1968 de Evia portfolio photograph.
• 
  1969, a man with a hat in front of the World Trade Center under construction
• 
  A male nude, taken in the 1970s.
• 
  Professional model Dovima, in an 1950s ad.
• 
  Professional model Sunny Harnett taken in the 1950s.

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.^[20]

References

External links

• Edgar de Evia's Official Homepage
• Edgar de Evia at Find a Grave