Jessie Evans

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Artist Details

  • Jessie
  • Benton
  • Steese
  • Evans
  • Denver Eugene Evans (1860-1920) , fruit importer living in Chicago; married August 12, 1886
  • Robert Thomas Evans (Chicago, Illinois June 24, 1888-October 1962 Arizona) married Mary Eleanore Frysinger (1887-1911) on November 18, 1908 in La Porte, indiana
  • March 24, 1866
  • Uniontown, Ohio
  • September 1954
  • Scottsdale, Arizona
  • 254 E. 61st Street, Chicago

    1909: 1517 W. 61st St., Chicago, Illinois

    1911-1954: Scottsdale, Arizona
  • Chicago, Illinois

    Scottsdale, Arizona
  • until at least 1920: 1517 E. 61st St., Chicago, Illinois
  • Etcher, Painter-Oil, Tempera, Watercolorist
  • Oberlin College, Ohio
    1904: graduated School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois [started in 1890s]
    student of Charles Hawthorne, Lawton Parker, William Chase, Frederick Freerer and such European notables as Roberto Rascovich and Professor Zila Zanetti of Venice, Italy
  • 5 trips to Europe prior to World War I

    especially Italy: Venice, Florence, Verona, Naples and Rome

    Paris
  • Array
  • January 31-February 26, 1905: Ninth Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Sorrento

    January 29-February 24, 1907: Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Sketch

    May 7-June 16, 1907: Nineteenth Annual Exhibition of Water-Colors, Pastels and Miniatures by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois;  Gloucester Harbor, watercolor

    February 2-28, 1909: An Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Evening, Giardini, tempera; Gray Evening, oil; Old Houses, oil; Door, Rio del Seiocannini, oil; Rio del Olio, oil; Rio di Mendicanti, tempera; Evening, oil

    May 11-June 13, 1909: Twenty-First Annual Exhibition of Water-Colors, Pastels, and Miniatures by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Late Afternoon, oil; On the Guidecca, oil; San Daniele, oil

    October 19-Novemer 28, 1909: Twenty-Second Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: La Vignuole, oil

    November 14-December 27, 1910:  Twenty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: The Procession, oil; Ponte de Pietro, oil; The Old Olive Tree, oil; A Walk on the Riviera, oil

    November 14-December 25, 1911: Twenty-Sixth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Superstition Mountain

    1911, 1912: Paris Salon, Paris, France

    February 1-28, 1912: An Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: On the Adige, Verona, oil; Little Lace Makers, oil; Castle of the Capuletti, oil

    May 7-June 5, 1912: Twenty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of Watercolors, Pastels, and Miniatures by American Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Canal, Venice, watercolor; Afternoon, watercolor; On the Shore, etching; Rio S. Christoforo, watercolor

    November 5-December 8, 1912: The Twenty-Fifth Annual Exhibition of American Sculpture and Oil Paintings, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Church of San Marco, oil

    January 28-February 21, 1913: The Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: The Market, Verona, oil; San Giorgio, Verona, oil; Paragi, oil; Portofino, oil

    February 3-March 1, 1914:  Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Echo Canyon, oil; The Buttes, oil; Camels Back, oil; Old Curiosity Shop, oil; Entrance to Canyon, oil

    November 3-December 6, 1914: The Twenty-Seventh Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculptures, The Art institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Bright Angel Canyon, oil; The Four Peaks, oil

    Paris Internationale

    Société des Artistes Français

    Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts

    Pan-Am Exposition, San Francisco

    1917, 1920, 1925, 1928, 1929: Arizona State Fairs

    January 8-February 7, 1918: First Exhibition of Work by the Alumni of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Porto Fino; Lake Winnebago

    November 7, 1918-January 1, 1919: Thirty-First Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois:  On Way to McDowel

    December 15, 1922-?: Exhibition of Work by the Alumni of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Field Columbian Museum

    January 30-March 10, 1925: Twenty-Ninth Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois;  Old Adobes, oil

    1929-1933: Arizona Artists Arts and Crafts exhibits, Museum of Northern Arizona,

    1929: Fourth Annual Circuit Exhibition by Ohio Born Women Painters, Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio

    1953:  Arizona State College, Tempe, Arizona

    September 1-October 2, 2011: Arizona Centennial Artists – Arizona’s Early Women Artists, Herberger Theater Center, Phoenix, Arizona

    November 17, 2012-May 12, 2013: Arizona’s Pioneering Women Artists, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona: Chicago Studio, circa 1915, watercolor; Artist’s Studio with Chair, circa 1918, etching; Venice Canal with Bridge, circa 1925, oil on board; Venice Waterfront with Posts, circa 1925, oil on board; Arch of Nero at Cumae, circa 1918, etching; Ponce de Leon, St. Augustine, 1925, hand-colored etching; Lakeshore, Chicago, circa 1920, oil on canvas; Grand Canyon, circa 1920, oil on board; Phoenix Area Landscape with Wash and Smoke Tree, circa 1920, oil on canvas; Arizona with Water—Salt River Canal, circa 1920, oil on canvas; Camelback Mountain with Saguaro and Wash, circa 1920, oil on board; Black Canyon, c. 1925, oil on canvas; Sedona from Oak Creek, circa 1925, oil on board; Four Peaks, c. 1930, pastel on paper; Sunshine in the Garden, circa 1935, oil on canvas; Southwest Garden Party, circa 1935, oil on canvas; Portrait of Lady in Spanish Costume, 1947, oil on canvas
  • Arizona Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts

    Collection of Fran and Ed Elliott, Sedona, Arizona

    College Club, Chicago, Illinois

    Phoenix Art Museum

    Phoenix University Club

    Municipal Collection of Akron, Ohio

    Municipal Collection, Phoenix, Arizona

    Santa Fe Railroad Company

    Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona

    Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

    John H. Vanderpoel Art Association, Chicago, Illinois

    Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin

     
  • Berryman, Florence Seville. “An Artist of the Salt River Valley,” The American Magazine of Art, vol. 20, no. 8 (August 1929). Dvoino, Dee. “Noted Painters Arizona’s Own.” The State Magazine and the Pathfinder. (October 1922). Fahlman, Betsy and Lonnie Pierson Dunvier. Arizona's Pioneering Women Artists. Museum of Northern Arizona. 2012. Fudala, Joan. Scottsdale. Arcadia Publishing, 2007. Heller, Jules and Nancy G. Heller, eds.  North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge, 2013. 2nd edition. Kovinick, Phil. The Woman Artist in the American West, 1860-1960. Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Trenton, Patricia and Sandra E’Emilio. Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890-1945. University of California Press, 1995. Shadows on the Mesa--Artists of the Painted Desert and Beyond. 2011.
  • Arts Club of Chicago

    The Artists Guild, Fine Arts Building, Chicago, Illinois

    Chicago Society of Artists

    The Salvator Rosa Art Club, Naples, Italy

    Societe des Artists, Paris
  • Elected to the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame

    1915: First prize, Phoenix Municipal Exposition

    two first landscape prizes and a second portrait prize at Arizona State Fair
  • 1932: illustrated and published her translation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Guiletta and Romeo
  • page on Arizona Women's Hall of Fame website

    page on Blue Coyote Gallery website

    page on Medicine Man Gallery website

    page on Taos and Santa Fe Painters website
  • Parents:  Jacob (1820-September 30, 1881) and Amanda Melvina Bowers (1834-1904) Steese; he was a hardworking country doctor; he is buried in Glendale Cemetery, Akron, Ohio

    Sibling:   Cleveland W. Steese (June 25, 1862-April 1, 1889); physician; buried in Woods Cemetery, Uniontown, Ohio

    Half-sibling:  Felix D. Steese (?-1904), son of Jacob and Edith M. McCormick (1825-1860) Steese; served in infantry; musician

    Artist Jessie Benton-Evans Gray is her great-granddaughter.

    Considered one of the most important Arizona artists of the early 20th century, Jessie Benton Evans is known for her brightly colored desert landscapes.

    Evans was born in Uniontown, Ohio and studied at Oberlin College.  Having moved to Chicago to attend the Art Institute, she met and married Denver Evans, a successful Chicago businessman.  After giving birth to her only child in 1888, Evans completed her course of study with John Vanderpoel, Lawton Parker, and briefly with William Merritt Chase.

    Over a period of several years, Evans took her son on extended trips to Europe where she studied informally with artists in Venice, Florence, Verona, Naples, Rome, and Paris.  She exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1911 and 1912 and was a member of the Societe des Artists.  Between 1905 and 1925 she exhibited here landscape and genre paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago's annual exhibitions.  Evans was a member of the Chicago Art Club and the Chicago Society of Artists.

    In 1913 Evans moved to Scottsdale, Arizona for health reasons, although she maintained her Chicago studio at least until 1920.  She quickly grew to love the Sonoran Desert, saying she found in it a "virgin freshness" not found in Europe.  She expressed her delight in the desert landscape with vivid colors and an impressionist style.

    As one of the cultural leaders in the Phoenix area, Evans undoubtedly sold much of her work privately, but she also sold paintings at the two resorts, Jokake Inn and Paradise Inn, built by her son, Robert.  She also sold 13 canvases to the Santa Fe Railway, more than the Santa Fe purchased from any other female artist.

    Medicine Man Gallery.