Mary Page Evans

About

In 1984, artist Gene Davis described Mary Page Evans’ paintings as, “hymns of unadulterated joy.” While Evans paints still lifes and images of the human form, it is her landscape and garden paintings created directly from nature, en plein air that capture this sentiment. Evans exhibits in Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. She has artwork in numerous public and private collections such as: the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Delaware Art Museum,  Brandywine River Museum of Art, and the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

“I am primarily a landscape painter. I work directly from nature – en plein air. I look at a specific landscape, establish its locale, the time of day, the quality of light, and paint it. Becoming involved with its particularities, I get to know it as if I were painting a figure or a still life. During the process, I am always creating and destroying until I arrive at the inevitability of this particular landscape.

Art history has always played an important role in my work. Having absorbed the structural lessons of Cezanne and the “push-pull” principle of Hans Hoffman, I try to loosen the form and let color determine the structure and create the space. I strive for a visual back and forth in the space resulting from forms and colors reacting to each other – like music. Cézanne once said, “Painting from nature is not copying the object, but realizing ones sensations.” When I paint the landscape, I feel like singing.”

— Mary Page Evans

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023         Mary Page Evans: Seas, Skies, and Still Lifes, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2019         Gardens Through the Years, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2019         Paintings and Drawings from Nature, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE

2016         Trees, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2012         Painted Poetry: The Art of Mary Page Evans, Retrospective, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

2009         Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

2003         Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA

2002        The Ann Norton Sculpture Garden, West Palm Beach, FL

2001         Beverley Street Studio School, Staunton, VA

1998         Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.

1994         Hollins University Art Gallery, Roanoke, VA

1993         Allan P. Kirby Arts Center Gallery, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ

1992         Fine Art Center of Kershaw County, Camden, SC

1986         Wilmington Arts Commission, City Council Building, Delaware Artist of the Year, Wilmington, DE

1980         Danville Art Museum, Danville, VA

1978         Eastern College, Philadelphia, PA

1977         Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

1975         Woodberry Forest School, Orange, VA

1973         Delaware State Arts Council, Wilmington, DE

1971         Washington Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021         PAST | PRESENT | FUTURE, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2021         Ninth Street Women and Their Legacy, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2004         The Big Picture, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

2001          Art Matters, Woodmere Art Museum, Woodmere, PA

1995-96    U.S. Embassy, Prague, Czechoslovakia, Art in Embassies Program

1994         Continuum of Creativy: Women Artists of Delaware, Delaware Women’s Conference, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

1993         New Waves ’93, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, Virginia Beach, VA

1993         Works by Women Artists, Memorial Study Collection, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA

1993         Spasso House, Moscow, Russia, Art in Embassies Program

1992-95   U.S. Embassy, Ivory Coast, Africa, Art in Embassies Program

1992-93   U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, India, Art in Embassies Program

1992         Seville World Expo, New Viewpoints & Contemporary American Women Artists, Natural Museum of Women in the Arts, Seville, Spain

1991-93    U.S. Embassy, Bucharest, Romania, Art in Embassies Program

1986         68th Delaware Art Museum Biennial, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

1985         67th Delaware Art Museum Biennial, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

1980         Virginia Artists 1980, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA

Selected Public Collections

Beneficial Corporation, Wilmington, DE
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA
Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
Delaware Trust Co., Wilmington, DE
E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, DE
Equitable Bank, Baltimore, MD
First USA, Wilmington, DE
Hercules Inc., Wilmington, DE
Hirmont USA Inc., Wilmington DE
Hollins University, Roanoke, VA
Home Owners Federal Savings Bank, Boston, MA
Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Phillips, Washington, DC
Marine Midland Bank of North America, Newark, DE
Medical Center of Delaware, Wilmington, DE
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, VA
O’Connor & Hannon, Washington, DC
School of Law, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, DE

Education

Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

Art Students League, New  York, NY

Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC

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