Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Sketch - Study of Saint Mammes

Object Number

1953-17-59

Description

Pencil and watercolor sketch on board of a man being held in someone's arms. The man being held appears to be bearded and is looking upwards with his right hand also pointed upwards. The man's left hand is facing to the left of the sketch but is tiled slightly upwards. The top of the man's face and the top of his left shoulder is shaded with some white paint. The figure in the right portion of the sketch who is holding the man up has no visible head or feet and is not as detailed as the man they are holding. There is also a faint penciled-in grid dividing the sketch. Written on the back in pencil: "Study of ST. MAMMES/for fresco in/MONTARLOT CHURCH/Austin Purves Jr./1925."

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.