Collections record Beta

Sketch - Flower

1953-17-67

Pen and ink drawing of a lily flower. The central lily has a stem and is much more detailed compared to the sketch of a portion of the lily flower to the left hand side. There is a number in pencil in the bottom right hand corner of the sketch, however it is obscured by the matboard and is thus indiscernible. Matted, no date.

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.

• Purves, Austin, 1900-1977

20th century

Overall Width 19"; Length 14.5"

• matboard
• tape
• pencil
• paper
• ink