Philip Evergood

Philip Howard Francis Dixon Evergood (born Howard Blashki; 1901–1973) was an American social realist painter, etcher, lithographer, sculptor, illustrator, and writer. He was particularly active during the Depression and World War II era.

Philip Evergood was born in New York City in 1901. His mother was English and his father, Miles Evergood, was an Australian artist of Polish Jewish descent who, in 1915, changed the family's name from Blashki to Evergood. Philip Evergood's formal education began in 1905. He studied music, and by 1908 he was playing the piano in a concert with his teacher.

He attended different English boarding schools starting in 1909 and was educated mainly at Eton and Cambridge University. In 1921 he decided to study art, left Cambridge, and went to London to study with Henry Tonks at the Slade School.

In 1923, Evergood returned to New York where he studied at the Art Students League of New York for a year, studying with George Luks and William von Schlegell. He then traveled again to Europe, worked at various jobs in Paris, painted independently, and studied at the Académie Julian with André Lhote. He also studied with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17; Hayter taught him engraving.

He returned to New York in 1926 and began a career that was marked by the hardships of severe illness, an almost fatal operation, and constant financial trouble.

It was not until the collector Joseph H. Hirshhorn purchased several of his paintings that he could consider his financial troubles over. Evergood worked on WPA art projects from 1934 to 1937, painting two murals: The Story of Richmond Hill (1936–37, public library in Queens, New York) and Cotton from Field to Mill (1938, post office in Jackson, Georgia). He taught both music and art as late as 1943, and finally moved to Southbury, Connecticut, in 1952. He was a full member of the Art Students League of New York and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

A New York City police officer was killed in the line of duty at Evergood's house located at 132 Bank Street, Greenwich Village, on August 17, 1947. Police Officer Thomas J. Gargan, responding to a neighbor's call reporting a burglary, was fatally shot in the chest and his partner was wounded by the burglar. Gargan was posthumously awarded the Daily News Hero Award. It was the second time he had won this award. The burglar used a single shot signal flare gun (sawed-off shotgun) he had found in the house. He was sentenced to death and executed in 1948. Evergood was charged with violating the Sullivan Act for failing to register the gun, but was acquitted by a three judge panel.

Evergood was killed in a house fire in Bridgewater, Connecticut, in 1973 at the age of 72. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.