Artist Marvin Hayes was born in Canton, Mississippi, in 1939. His family moved to Texas in 1941. He grew up in Hamshire, Texas. He studied art at Texas A&M University, Lamar University, and Columbia University.
In 1972 at the 22nd Annual New England Painting and Sculpture Exhibition Graphics Exhibition, Hayes won the first place award. He also had work accepted in the International Graphics Exhibition in 1972.
He was an illustrator for many years, producing works that appeared in many magazines including Esquire, Redbook, Time, and Good Housekeeping.
He is best known for the set of fifty-three Biblical etchings in copper for which he did considerable research and travel. The etchings were shown in New York City in 1977 at the FAR Gallery and reproduced in the book God’s Images. The Bible: A New Vision, with text written by poet James Dickey.
Many of these paintings were accepted for the permanent collections of the Rijksmuseum, the Vatican, la Bibliotheque Nationale, the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Palais du Louvre. His work is also on display at the New York Public Library, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and The Smithsonian.
Hayes currently lives in New York, New York.