Ernestine Evans
Encyclopedia
Ernestine Evans was a journalist, editor, author and literary agent.
, Nebraska
, she lived in Elkhart
, Indiana
during her childhood and attended the University of Chicago
, receiving a Bachelor of Philosophy
degree in 1912. She was arrested in 1917, along with Peggy Baird Johns
and Dorothy Day
, for picketing on behalf of women's rights. In the 1920s, according to the historian Alan M. Wald, she was married to Kenneth Durant, the head of the United States branch of the Soviet press agency TASS
. Secret services reports released by the United Kingdom
government in 2005 state that Evans left for Britain with Durant in 1925, after Durant was expelled from the United States
due to his connection with various Communist front organisations. Her relationship with Durant was over by 1935, when he married Evans's former colleague, the poet Genevieve Taggard
.
In the 1930s she met Walker Evans
and Ben Shahn
. Walker Evans was impressed by her intelligence and was always quick to point out they were not related.
Evans's career also involved work for the United States government. She worked for the Resettlement Administration
, where her duties included conducting research for Roy Stryker
, a pioneer in the field of documentary photography and a central figure in the Farm Security Administration
. Additionally, during World War II
, Evans worked for the Office of War Information in the Overseas Publications department of the Publications Bureau. With this position, she collaborated with the African-American photographer Gordon Parks
, her colleague at OWI, who would go on to rise to prominence as a documentary photographer and film director.
Evans was a member of the Society of Woman Geographers
, a group co-founded by her close friend Gertrude Emerson Sen
.
Toward the end of her life, Evans suffered from a slew of medical problems, including cataracts. She died in New York City
. Her archival papers are held by Columbia University
's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
. This illustrated oversize book, The Frescoes of Diego Rivera, was published in 1929 by Harcourt Brace. The following year, Rivera was invited to the United States
, and in 1931, he was the subject of a retrospective at New York City
's Museum of Modern Art
.
). She also did freelance journalism and editing for publications including The Century Magazine
, The New York Herald Tribune, Asia Magazine, The New Republic
, The Nation
, The Virginia Quarterly Review
, and The Manchester Guardian; in addition, she reviewed books for The New York Times
, Saturday Review, The New Republic
, Survey Graphic
, and Delphian Quarterly.
Evans's journalistic career frequently took her overseas, a somewhat unusual state of affairs for a single woman at this time. Writing essays for the Virginia Quarterly Review, she wedded politics to cultural criticism as she recounted her travels through Europe
as a literary agent, telling firsthand of the distinctly Russian character of train journeys to the Caucasus
; a 1920s Berlin
in the midst of rising Nazism
; government wiretapping and the antiquarian book trade in London
.
and Jean Renoir
, among many others.
Life
Born in OmahaOmaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, she lived in Elkhart
Elkhart
Elkhart is the name of some places in the United States of America:*Elkhart, Illinois*Elkhart, Indiana*Elkhart, Iowa*Elkhart, Kansas*Elkhart, Texas*Elkhart County, Indiana*Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
during her childhood and attended the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, receiving a Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree. The degree usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects...
degree in 1912. She was arrested in 1917, along with Peggy Baird Johns
Margarite Frances Baird
Marguerite Frances Baird was an American landscape painter. She was married to poet-playwright Orrick Johns and writer Malcolm Cowley and was the lover of playwright Eugene O'Neill and poet Hart Crane.Baird was a member of the women's suffrage movement...
and Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist and devout Catholic convert; she advocated the Catholic economic theory of Distributism. She was also considered to be an anarchist, and did not hesitate to use the term...
, for picketing on behalf of women's rights. In the 1920s, according to the historian Alan M. Wald, she was married to Kenneth Durant, the head of the United States branch of the Soviet press agency TASS
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union
The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union , was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations...
. Secret services reports released by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government in 2005 state that Evans left for Britain with Durant in 1925, after Durant was expelled from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
due to his connection with various Communist front organisations. Her relationship with Durant was over by 1935, when he married Evans's former colleague, the poet Genevieve Taggard
Genevieve Taggard
Genevieve Taggard was an American poet.-Biography:Genevieve Taggard was born to James Taggard and Alta Arnold, both of whom were school teachers...
.
In the 1930s she met Walker Evans
Walker Evans
Walker Evans was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans's work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera...
and Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content.-Biography:...
. Walker Evans was impressed by her intelligence and was always quick to point out they were not related.
Evans's career also involved work for the United States government. She worked for the Resettlement Administration
Resettlement Administration
The Resettlement Administration was a U.S. federal agency that, between April 1935 and December 1936, relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government....
, where her duties included conducting research for Roy Stryker
Roy Stryker
Roy Emerson Stryker was an American economist, government official, and photographer. He is most famous for heading the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression and launching the documentary photography movement of the FSA.After serving in the infantry...
, a pioneer in the field of documentary photography and a central figure in the Farm Security Administration
Farm Security Administration
Initially created as the Resettlement Administration in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty...
. Additionally, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Evans worked for the Office of War Information in the Overseas Publications department of the Publications Bureau. With this position, she collaborated with the African-American photographer Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director...
, her colleague at OWI, who would go on to rise to prominence as a documentary photographer and film director.
Evans was a member of the Society of Woman Geographers
Society of Woman Geographers
The Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981....
, a group co-founded by her close friend Gertrude Emerson Sen
Gertrude Emerson Sen
Gertrude Emerson Sen was an early 20th-century expert on Asia and a founding member of the Society of Woman Geographers.After teaching English in Japan, Sen returned to the United States to became the editor of Asia magazine. In 1920 she undertook a round-the-world expedition which included stunt...
.
Toward the end of her life, Evans suffered from a slew of medical problems, including cataracts. She died in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Her archival papers are held by Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Art criticism
Evans authored the first English-language book on the famed Mexican painter Diego RiveraDiego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
. This illustrated oversize book, The Frescoes of Diego Rivera, was published in 1929 by Harcourt Brace. The following year, Rivera was invited to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and in 1931, he was the subject of a retrospective at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
Career in publishing
Over the course of her career, Evans worked for several publishing firms and literary agencies, including Coward-McCann and Lippincott (now Lippincott Williams & WilkinsLippincott Williams & Wilkins
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins is an academic and professional medical publisher owned by Wolters Kluwer group. It publishes textbooks, various electronic media, and over 275 journals and newsletters in the health-care field. Publications are aimed at physicians, nurses, clinicians, and students...
). She also did freelance journalism and editing for publications including The Century Magazine
The Century Magazine
The Century Magazine was first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City as a successor to Scribner's Monthly Magazine...
, The New York Herald Tribune, Asia Magazine, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, The Virginia Quarterly Review
The Virginia Quarterly Review
The Virginia Quarterly Review is a literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman...
, and The Manchester Guardian; in addition, she reviewed books for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Saturday Review, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, Survey Graphic
Survey Graphic
The Survey Graphic was a United States magazine launched in 1921. From 1921 to 1932, it was published as a supplement to The Survey and became a separate publication in 1933. The SG focused on sociological and political research and analysis of national and international issues...
, and Delphian Quarterly.
Evans's journalistic career frequently took her overseas, a somewhat unusual state of affairs for a single woman at this time. Writing essays for the Virginia Quarterly Review, she wedded politics to cultural criticism as she recounted her travels through Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
as a literary agent, telling firsthand of the distinctly Russian character of train journeys to the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
; a 1920s Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in the midst of rising Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
; government wiretapping and the antiquarian book trade in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Correspondence
Evans was a gregarious individual and a tireless writer of letters. She demonstrated an eagerness to expand her network of colleagues, collaborators and companions, and she engaged in correspondence with such luminaries as Walker Evans, Cornell CapaCornell Capa
Cornell Capa was a Hungarian American photographer, member of Magnum Photos, and photo curator, and the younger brother of photo-journalist and war photographer Robert Capa. Graduating from Imre Madách Gymnasium in Budapest, he initially intended to study medicine, but instead joined his brother...
and Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
, among many others.
See also
- Roy StrykerRoy StrykerRoy Emerson Stryker was an American economist, government official, and photographer. He is most famous for heading the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression and launching the documentary photography movement of the FSA.After serving in the infantry...
- Gertrude Emerson SenGertrude Emerson SenGertrude Emerson Sen was an early 20th-century expert on Asia and a founding member of the Society of Woman Geographers.After teaching English in Japan, Sen returned to the United States to became the editor of Asia magazine. In 1920 she undertook a round-the-world expedition which included stunt...
- Society of Woman GeographersSociety of Woman GeographersThe Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981....
- Office of War Information