Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Sketch - Flower

Object Number

1953-17-66

Description

Pen and ink sketch of a day lily on paper. The center flower has a stem which extends downward to the bottom of the piece. In the top right hand corner is a close-up sketch of the flower without a stem. There are some pencil marks made towards the top of the lily that appear to have been made by the artist. In the top right hand corner is the number 37 in pencil. In the center of the right hand side of the paper are two lines of words written in black ink which read: "Flowers always point directly up into light/under side of top leaves fairly light green." Matted, date not given.

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.