Title

Evergood, Miles.

Author

Butler, Roger.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

1991

Type

Biography

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Miles Evergood

 

Myer Blashki was born in Melbourne in 1871. After a brief period as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Victorian Mounted Police he was apprenticed to Falk Brothers Photographers in Sydney. By 1891 Myer was back in Melbourne studying at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. It was at this time that he began using the name Miles Evergood (a translation of his mother’s maiden name Immergat).

In 1898 in the company of artist Frank McComas, Evergood travelled to the USA. He quickly established a reputation as a painter and as he had a secure income he used the USA as a base and travelled regularly to Europe. After deciding that his son should be educated in England the Evergoods set up home in England. During the First World War Evergood enlisted with other Australian artists in the British Medical Corps while continuing to paint and exhibit. He counted among his friends Wilson Steer, Augustus John, C.R.W Nevinson and Jacob Epstein.

By 1927 Evergood had again settled in New York. His wife Flora died that year and he married Polly Romero. It was during the period 1927-31 that most of his prints seem to have been produced. This coincided with the interest in printmaking by his son Philip who had joined him in the USA and who was beginning to make a reputation as a social realist artist.

In 1931 Miles and Polly Evergood decided to emigrate to Australia. After brief sojourns in Brisbane and Sydney they eventually settled at Kalorama in Victoria in 1935.

Evergood held two exhibitions at the Athenaeum Gallery in Melbourne. The first in 1935 was of his own painting and prints, while the second also included 12 works by his son Philip.

Both shows were well received by artist friends but the works were generally considered to be too radical for the public or National Gallery of Victoria trustees.

Miles Evergood died suddenly in Melbourne in 1939.

© Roger Butler, 1991.

Published in Australian Printmakers in America 1900 -1950, exhibition catalogue, Canberra:Australian National Gallery, 1991.