This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born in a log cabin in Long Creek, North Carolina, she became an imagist painter whose life spanned a century. Many of her paintings are surreal in style, and she used mixed media and oil to paint large foliage patterns. Dreams and imagination played a key part in her paintings; she never depicted the actual world around her, only the one that existed in her head.
She led a relatively isolated existed as a black domestic and for twenty- seven years, from 1948, was the gatekeeper at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Her only trip to the outside world was a trip to New York City in 1966. Her painting world is peopled with Biblical figures, fantastic creatures, and lush foliage.
Source: Charlotte Rubinstein, "American Women Artists"
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"I love people, to a certain extent, but sometimes I want to get off in the garden to talk with God. I have the blooms, and when the blooms are gone, I love to watch the green. God dressed the world in green." -- Minnie Evans
As gatekeeper at the formal Airlie Gardens in North Carolina since the 1930's, Minnie Evans' work was informed by her love of flora and fauna, as well as her deeply held Christian beliefs. An important American visionary artists of the 20th century, Evans was collected by Jean Dubuffet in the 1960's and has been exhibited widely, including a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 1975.
Source: Christie's New York |
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Minnie Evans is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Black American Artists
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