Minnie Evans (NC, 1892-1987), Three Works

the first with crayon and pencil on paper, partial signature at lower right, unframed (with loss to edges of sheet); the second with crayon and pencil on paper, dated 1946 at lower right, unsigned, unframed (with loss to lower edge of sheet and some loss to lower left corner, toning and creasing to sheet) (Sheet 11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in.); and the third a double sided work on paper, crayon and pencil drawing to one side, a pencil drawing of a standing woman to the verso, unsigned (loss to upper right corner of sheet, toning and foxing to sheet, three tears to edges) (Sheet 6 x 9 1/4 in).
Minnie Evans was the longtime gatekeeper at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina. A self-taught artist, her painting are in numerous prominent collections including Museum of Modern Art, New York, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, Virginia, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and many more.
From the Estate of the late Mrs. Ann Lamb Davis, Greensboro, North Carolina
Ann Lamb Davis was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on February 5, 1911. She received her bachelors degree from North Carolina A&T State University and masters degree from Columbia University. She completed further studies in Paris, France at the École Guerre-Lavigne and the Alliance Française Paris.

Mrs. Davis returned to the United States and settled in Greensboro, North Carolina. She retired as head of the department of clothing, textiles and related arts at North Carolina A&T University. She was an author and fashionable trailblazer, ranked among the Top 10 Best Dressed Women by Ebony Magazine in 1962.

Mrs. Davis was very socially active and instrumental in the development of Greensboro as an educational and socially progressive city in the southeast.
Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com