Collections record Beta

Charcoal Drawing - Jesus

1971-14-24

Charcoal on paper drawing of a standing figure with beard and halo. Arms at sides, left hand held over small female child standing to his left. Right hand opened and slightly raised. Note written on upper right "keep it short" with line running to beard. Both figures are barefoot. Graph lines on paper in red. Back side has tracing of the sketch. Framed under glass

Printed on the back of the drawing "Full size study of/Jesus for Apse Painting/in Children's Chapel/Trinity Lutheran Church/Ft. Wayne, Indiana/Austin"

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

1956

61" long x 26" wide

• charcoal
• paper