Date of Birth: 1907
Place of Birth: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Date of Death: 01/15/1992
Place of Death: Atlantic City, New Jersey

Discipline(s):
Painter, Set Designer

Charles Evans was a modernist known for his abstract style of painting. He studied at New York's Art Students League and Parsons School of Design, and later in Paris with Fernand Leger at the Academie Moderne.

In 1930, Evans and his wife spent a year living in what was Paul Cezanne's studio in Aix-en-Provence, France.

The following year, Evans purchased the old silk mill in New Hope and became involved in the area's modernist movement, joining The Independents in 1932.

By 1935, he began to work collaboratively with Louis Stone, whom he had met in 1929 while studying with Hans Hofman in Saint Tropez, and with Charles F. Ramsey, teaching art classes and working on the Cooperative Painting Project. Every week, the three were joined by the abstract painter, Lee Gatch, in discussions at Ledger's Inn in Lambertville.

BIOGRAPHY

Education and Training
Colgate University, Hamilton, New York
Art Student's League, New York
Parsons School of Design, New York
Académie Moderne, Paris, France
Studied in St. Tropez and Munich under Hans Hofmann, 1929
Spent one year at Cézanne's studio in Aix-en-Provence, 1930

Teachers and Influences
Fernand Léger
Hans Hofmann

Connection to Bucks County
While still in his twenties, Evans and his wife, Eleanor Noteware, bought New Hope's old silk mill in 1931 which had been a favorite subject from 1910 to 1920 of the painter, Robert Spencer. Evans met C.F. Ramsey, the leader of the New Group, a secessionist group of modernist artists, which later became the Independents. Evans was one of the original members along with Henry Baker, Charles Child, Ralston Crawford, Robert Hogue, Peter Keenan, R.A.D. Miller, John Nevin, C. F. Ramsey, Richard Rogers, and Faye Swengel. Through his involvement with the Independents, Evans most likely met other artists who later joined or exhibited with this group: Adolph Blondheim, Chester Gash, Frederick Harer, Carl Lundborg, Lloyd Ney, Isamu Noguchi, Maxwell Simpson, and Richard Wedderspoon. Evans also encouraged Louis Stone to move to the area in 1935. And the three, Evans, Ramsey and Stone, began the Cooperative Painting Project, an attempt to

work collectively on a visual arts product not unlike the processes in jazz improvisation. They were occasionally joined by journalist William Chapman, poet Stanley Kunitz, and carpenter Karl Roos. After moving to Lambertville in 1935, Lee Gatch joined Evans, Stone and Ramsey for weekly discussions at Ledger's Inn.

In 1948 Evans co-founded the New Hope Gazette with Walter M. Teller. The same year he created set designs for St. John Terrell's Lambertville Music Circus. Through his theater and design interests, Evans worked with Elmer Case, James Hamilton, Carl Karhuma, and Emile Laugier. Evans remained quite involved in the New Hope community until the 1950s and in 1970 he sold his home in New Hope and retired to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Charles Evans had met Louis Stone while they were both studying under Hans Hofmann in St. Tropez and Munich in 1929. Evans suggested that Stone move to New Hope. Evans was also a colleague of members of the "Independents": Peter Keenan, Robert Hogue, R.A.D. Miller, Henry Baker, Ralston Crawford, C.F. Ramsey, John Nevin, Charles Child, Richard Rogers, and Faye Swengel.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Noyes Museum, Oceanville, New Jersey, 1991

Major Group Exhibitions
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1940, 1942
50th Anniversary Retrospective Art Exhibition, Phillips Mill, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1979
The New Hope Modernists 1917-1950, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1991

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Co-founder with Walter M. Teller, New Hope Gazette, 1948
Set designer, Fred Miller Theater, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Artistic director, Queen Elizabeth Playhouse, Vancouver, British Columbia