Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Sketch - Map for U.S. Line Job

Object Number

1953-17-31

Description

Detailed watercolor on board for three maps. Each map is identical and gridded. The only variation from map to map is the color in which the continents of North America, South America, Africa and Europe depicted are ether shaded in or outlined. Below each map are various artist notes describing the different material each map would be reproduced in on a larger scale. On the lower left-hand corner the author notes in red pencil that this piece is "Sheet 4". On the bottom center of the piece is a gray, black and blue "FULL SCALE SKETCH OF POSITION MARKER/APPROXIMATELY 4" OVERALL - /CAST METAL OR PLASTIC SET IN RUBBER SUCTION CUP." outlined in white. The piece is dated in the bottom right hand corner "10/20/39". On the back is written in red pencil: "United States Line Job/Cabin Class Foyer Job #103/Return to Austin Purves Jr./Litchfield Conn." Initialed in black ink to the right of the position marker sketch.

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.