Bernard Walter Evans, generally known in the art world as BERNARD EVANS, was born on 26 December 1843 at Queen Street, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, the second of 13 children born to Walter Swift Evans and his wife Sophia (nee Spilsbury).
His father, Walter Swift Evans, was also an artist who utilised his creative abilities in a professional capacity working as an engraver on gold and silver, a copper plate engraver and a master church furniture maker; he was associated with Pugin in the revival of mediaeval architecture; his working life was spent in and around Birmingham.
BERNARD EVANS studied painting in Birmingham from the age of 7 years under the direction of Samuel Lines, William Wallis, and Edward Watson.
An entry in “Who’s Who” 1914 stated that BERNARD EVANS was a cousin of the author George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans b. 1819; d. 1881) .
BERNARD EVANS married Mary Ann Eliza Hollyer at St Luke’s, Kentish Town in London on 2 August 1870. His wife was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann Eliza Hollyer; her father was an engraver; her brother, Frederick Hollyer was a pioneer in the use of photography for reproducing works of art
BERNARD EVANS and his wife lived in London, Harrogate and spent several winters during the late 1890’s on the French Riviera.
BERNARD EVANS was a prolific artist and exhibited numerous times throughout the British Isles and abroad. His first works were exhibited in 1864 at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. Examples of his work can be viewed in our Gallery of Works and his major exhibition pieces are listed in the Exhibits pages.
In 1880, whilst still living in London BERNARD EVANS was the driving force behind the creation of the City of London Society of Artists and in 1881 he was elected a member of the Savage Club. His was also a member of the Society of Artists which met at Langham Chambers, where groups of artists produced “Langham Club” Sketches.
BERNARD EVANS moved to Harrogate in the late 1880’s and continued to live at 20 Park Parade until about 1911.
BERNARD EVANS died on 26 February 1922 in London. An entry in The Times for Tuesday 28 February 1922 reads:
EVANS – On Sunday, the 26th Feb., passed peacefully away, at the home of his niece, BERNARD WALTER EVANS, R.I. aged 79. Funeral at Harrogate, Thursday.
His obituary appeared in the Harrogate Advertiser on Saturday March 4 1922. He was buried with his wife, who had died in 1902.
Several of BERNARD EVANS’ siblings were also artists or part of the art world during the late 1800s and early 1900s: