Powys Evans
(1899-1981), 'Quiz'; caricaturistSitter associated with 1 portrait
Artist associated with 99 portraits
Evans was an illustrator who worked under the name 'Quiz'. He studied at the Slade School of Art but abandoned a career as an oil painter in favour of portrait illustration, and made his name with a set of caricatures of Lovat Fraser's designs to The Beggar's Opera (1922). Exhibited at the Little Rooms and published as a portfolio, these caricatures attracted the attention of the assistant editor of the Saturday Review, who then employed Evans as the house caricaturist. Contributing to a wide variety of periodicals, Evans produced a notable series of portraits in pen and ink for the London Mercury (some of which reappeared in Fifty Heads, 1928) and a number of caricatures for G K's Weekly.
by Powys Evans
pen and ink drawing, 1920s-1930s
NPG D8469
Unknown man (inscribed 'Irish M.P.')
by Powys Evans
pencil, 1920s-1930s
NPG D11163
Unknown man (Sergeant, Scots Guards)
by Powys Evans
pencil, 1920s-1930s
NPG D1696
George Younger, 1st Viscount Younger of Leckie
by Powys Evans
pencil, 1922 or before
NPG D33408
George Younger, 1st Viscount Younger of Leckie
by Powys Evans, published by The Saturday Review
lithograph, published 4 November 1922
NPG D33461
Sir (Clement) Anderson Montague-Barlow
by Powys Evans
lithograph, 1923
NPG D33420
by Powys Evans
pencil, 1923 or before
NPG D1682
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Geraint Jones
29 December 2018, 15:01
During the 1960s, Powys Evans lived in a top floor flat above our house in Dolgellau, Gwynedd. In retirement, he seems to have returned to painting landscapes. I remember him well and he would rise around dawn during the Summer and disappear for a day's painting in the mountains. We moved in 1967 but I understand he continued living in "Llys Meirion Uchaf" until his death. He was very well known in the town.
Martin Clist
03 January 2022, 09:41
I have a self-portrait in oil of Evans, presumably from his Slade days, very much of the era. Inscribed on the back. He stares at me every day.