niques, he did not wish to call such images photo-
graphy. Evans believed photography could achieve
the level of art through the medium’s limitations
rather than with hybrid imitations. While he some-
times resorted to retouching and other corrective
measures, he staunchly maintained there should be
no tampering with the negative or print.
Such perfectionism was not an end in itself, and
Evans aimed for what he called ‘‘cathedral picture-
making ’’ in which the result would give the viewer
an emotional experience equivalent to what might
be felt at the actual site. He pursued this aesthetic in
all aspects of his photography, including landscapes
where trees were photographed for their architec-
tural resemblances. This idea of art through a lim-
ited medium was extended to his other passion, the
pianola, and though critics derided him, Shaw,
another pianola enthusiast, defended him.
Evans was influenced by J. M. W. Turner’s arch-
itectural watercolors, as well as by Odilon Redon’s
contemporary Symbolist prints, which he collected.
In addition, he steeped himself in the theology of
correspondences of the eighteenth century mystic
Emanuel Swedenborg as interpreted in the writings
of James John Garth Wilkinson. The metaphoric
title,A Sea of Steps (1903), showing the stone,
wave-like steps to the Wells Cathedral Chapter
House, would seem to suggest Evans’s interest in
Swedenborgian thinking as well as in the Symbolist
movement.
The purist approach also suggests influences
from critic John Ruskin’s emphasis on depicting
facts and those Pre-Raphaelites who aimed for
‘‘photographic’’ detail. Evans was not a social acti-
vist like William Morris, though he shared the Arts
and Crafts leader’s views on work, and in 1896, he
photographed Morris’s Kelmscott Manor.
Evans reached a wider audience whenCountry
Lifepublished his work on English churches in
1904–1905. This magazine then offered him an
open commission, so he chose to photograph mostly
chateaux and small churches in France from 1906–
- Around World War I, Evans concentrated on
photographing works of art, which were then pri-
vately published in platinotype editions. Never one
to compromise, he could not accept silver-based
papers, which were replacing platinum paper. So,
he stopped photographing.
When he died in London on 24 June 1943, few
were familiar with his achievements. The Royal
Photographic Society reawakened interest in his
work through a memorial exhibition in 1944.
JOHNFullerSeealso:Architectural Photography; Coburn, Alvin
Langdon; History of Photography: Nineteenth-Cen-
tury Foundations; Linked Ring; Portraiture; Royal
Photographic Society; Stieglitz, AlfredBiography
Born 26 June 1853. Little known of his early years, but in
1870s was a clerk in a London clearing house. Around
1873, went to Boston for a year because of health. Pur-
chased camera in 1883, made photomicrographs. Book-
store operator in London in 1880s. Became friends with
George Bernard Shaw, helped launch Aubrey Beards-
ley’s career. Photographed cathedrals, landscapes, and
portraits. Retired from bookstore in 1898, and moved to
Epping. Elected to Linked Ring in 1900, from 1902–1905
in charge of London Photographic Salon. Featured in
Camera Work4 (October 1903). Photographed English
parish churches forCountry Life, 1905. In 1906–1907
photographed French chateaux and churches forCoun-
try Life. Joined London Secession, 1908. Landscapes
reproduced in George Meredith Memorial Edition, 19
09–1911. Membership in the London Salon Club, 1910.
Interior photographs of Westminster Abbey forCoun-
try Life, 1911. From 1912–1919, privately published ed-
itions of platinum prints of artist’s works. Made
Honorary Fellow of The Royal Photographic Society,- Died 24 June 1943.
Individual Exhibitions
1899 Architectural Club, Boston, Massachusetts
1900 Royal Photographic Society, London, England
1904 Camera Club, London, England
1913 Amateur Photographer’s ‘‘Little Gallery,’’ London,
England
1917 Hampshire House, London, England
1919 Westminster Abbey photographs at Royal Photo-
graphic Society, London, England
1922 Royal Photographic Society, London, England
1932 Photographic Society, London, England
1933 Manchester Amateur Photographic Society, Manches-
ter, England
1944 Memorial Exhibition; Royal Photographic Society,
London, EnglandGroup Exhibitions
1890 Royal Photographic Society Annual Exhibition, Lon-
don, England
1891 At Home Portraits; The Photographic Society, Lon-
don, England
1892 Invitation Exhibition; Camera Club, London, England
1894 Photographic Salon, London, England
1899 American Institute, New York, New York
1901 London Photographic Salon, London, England
1903 F. Holland Day Studio, Boston, Massachusetts
1906 Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, New York,
New York
1910 International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography; Alb-
right Gallery, Buffalo, New YorkEVANS, FREDERICK H.