Early Life, Family and Artistic Training

Kenneth Evett entered the world on December 1, 1913, in Loveland, Colorado. He was the middle son of Charles Evett and Sarah Warnock Evett, born into a family that would eventually see its members pursue diverse paths in letters and music. His upbringing was shaped by the rugged landscapes of the Rockies, where his father ran a livery stable in Estes Park. These mountain roots provided a backdrop of wild animals and the shifting light of the high country, elements that would later find their way into his visual language.

His formal education in the arts began in earnest at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs. It was there that a chance encounter with a wealthy neighbor secured him a scholarship, allowing him to pursue his craft with dedicated focus. This early support paved the way for his advanced studies, leading him to Colorado College. By 1939, he had earned his MFA in painting, a milestone that marked his transition from a student of the landscape to a disciplined practitioner of his medium.

During his formative years, Kenneth Evett sought the guidance of masters who understood the weight and scale of public art. He studied under muralists George Biddle, Henry Varnum Poor, and Boardman Robinson. These mentors helped shape his understanding of composition and form, preparing him for the significant commissions that would follow. His training was not merely a collection of technical lessons, but a deep immersion into the traditions of painting that would sustain his long career.

Patrons, Commissions and Mural Work

During the lean years of the Great Depression, Evett found his footing as an easel painter for the Works Progress Administration. This period of labor brought him his first significant artistic break when he was awarded a commission to paint a mural for the Humboldt, Nebraska Post Office. This early success opened doors to further opportunities, as he secured several commissions from the Treasury Department to decorate public spaces. He eventually completed six murals across the landscapes of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, leaving a permanent mark on the civic architecture of the American heartland.

His reputation for large-scale composition grew through these public works, which required a balance of storytelling and technical skill. In 1954, he achieved a major professional milestone when he won a national juried competition. This victory granted him the prestigious task of painting three murals for the rotunda of the Nebraska State Capitol. These works, which addressed the labors of the hand, head, and heart, brought him a level of national publicity that was both significant and, at times, controversial due to their modern sensibility.

• Picnic in Kansas (mural study)
• Cowboys Driving Cattle (mural study)
• The Auction (mural study)
• Building the New Road (mural study)

Technique and Artistic Style

While his hand was capable of many things, Kenneth Evett found his most enduring voice in the medium of watercolor. He approached the landscape not with a light touch, but with a heavy, deliberate presence. His landscape watercolors were characterized by a rich tone and a deep texture that gave the natural world a tangible, physical weight. He did not merely wash color across the paper; he built it up, creating surfaces that felt as rugged as the terrain he sought to capture.

This intensity was not limited to his watercolors. When he turned to oils, he favored a palette of intense color, applying pigment with an energy that matched his spirited temperament. He was a man of many tools, moving easily between the fluid grace of oils and the sharp, disciplined precision of India ink drawings. There was a certain darkness to his imagination as well, which he expressed through sumi ink. In these works, he produced landscapes that felt apocalyptic, using the ink to conjure scenes of profound, somber power.

His ability to command different materials allowed him to navigate various scales, from the intimate sketches of a rocky promontory to the grand requirements of public murals. Whether working with the delicate transparency of watercolor or the starkness of ink, his hand remained unmistakably his own.

Academic Career and Later Years

The steady rhythm of his life found a permanent home in 1948 when he joined the faculty of the Art Department at Cornell University. He would remain within those halls for thirty-two years, eventually earning the title of professor emeritus. His presence at the university was marked by more than just his teaching; he helped organize art festivals and various campus events, becoming a fixture of the institution's creative life. Even as he shaped the minds of his students, he continued to find his own way through the world, traveling to landscapes in Italy, France, Ireland, Greece, and Spain to set up his easel.

His standing among his peers was recognized in 1994 when he was elected to the National Academy of Design. This honor arrived after decades of prolific work that spanned many mediums, from the intense colors of his oils to the delicate precision of sumi ink. He was a man of letters as well as a man of color, finding time to write essays on architecture and visual experience for various publications. His voice was heard in the pages of The New Republic and other magazines, reflecting a mind that sought to understand the very essence of what he saw.

In his final years, he resided in Ithaca, New York. He passed away there on May 28, 2005, at the age of 91. He left behind a legacy that was as much about the community he helped build in the classroom as it was about the marks he left upon the canvas.

Where to See the Works Today

To find the traces of his hand, one must travel to the institutions that preserved his vision through the decades. In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian American Art Museum holds several of his pieces, including studies for the murals he once brought to life in the post offices of the plains. His presence is also felt in the halls of the Munson-William-Proctor Institute in Utica, N.Y., where his works remain part of the permanent collection.

The legacy of his long tenure in academia is reflected in the collections of Cornell's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. It is a place where his art remains on display, much like the paintings that once greeted visitors in the lobby. Beyond these academic and national repositories, his imagery has found a home in the Newark Museum and the Montclair Museum, ensuring that his varied explorations of landscape and form continue to be seen by those who seek them.