Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Sketch - Unknown Woman

Object Number

1953-17-38

Description

Pencil sketch on paper. Central figure is a nude woman drawn from behind with her hair up. Her right hand is resting on the front of her left leg while her left hand is resting on the back of her left leg. Her legs are partly crossed and her left foot is facing forward from her front while her right foot is pointed off to the right. Initialed and date in ink on the bottom right hand corner.

Comment

Born in Philadelphia, Austin M. Purves Jr. (1900-1977) lived in the East Litchfield section of Litchfield for the last 40 years of his life. Purves studied art at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris, France, before opening a studio in New York, where he was director of the day and night schools at the Cooper Union. After moving to Litchfield, Purves taught art at Bennington College and at Yale Art School and was a member of the Architectural League of New York, the National Society of Mural Painters, and the (then newly-formed) Hartford Art School. Over the course of his career Purves did commission work for R. H. Macy & Co., the Folger Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., the American Battle Monument in Draguignan, France, the 1939 World’s Fair, various churches, ship lines and private clients, among others. In addition to commission work, Purves drew primarily from people and nature for his own personal sketches and paintings.