Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Portfolio - Honesdale

Object Number

1953-17-12

Description

Legal pad pages containing 18 anatomical sketches done in blue ink and pencil. One page contains notes on the front and a sketch in blue ink for the Litchfield County Court House. The Pencil notes on the front are described in black ink on the bottom right hand corner as: "Notes on conversations with fellow/jury in Litchfield County/Court House in 1949/ while working on sketches/for Honesdale."

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.