Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Sketch - S.S. America Smoking Room

Object Number

2024-14-1

Description

Sketch of study for a proposed design by Austin Purves of East Litchfield, Connecticut. Black ink or think black paint on gold foil. Shapes formed by a mix of negative space (gold foil without layer of black pigment) and scratched/incised lines, with the addition of thinner black pigment for details inside gold shapes. The scene shows an abstract landscape with trees, shrubs (possibly a cactus), and multiple types of birds. Signed in lower-right, "A/#F102/9." Work is framed under glass with burnt orange mat with pencil-decorated interior edge. Simple wood frame, painted in matte gold. In pencil on reverse, "PRELIMINARY SKETCH FOR/PROPOSED SMOKING PANELS/FOR S.S. AMERICA/U.S. LINES/AUSTIN PURVES 1940."

Provenance

Auction house stated the work was owned by a family friend of Purves when he lived in Litchfield, Connecticut. The Society's museum collection includes multiple preliminary designs for ships of the U.S. Lines.

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.