Collections record Beta

Sketch - Head of Christ

1953-17-58

Charcoal sketch on paper of a man's head and upper torso. The man appears to have his eyes closed and his head is tilted downwards to face the bottom left hand corner of the paper. On the back right hand corner of the paper is written in black ink: "Sketch for head of/Christ/Honesdale Pa/Austin Purves Jr./1949." The sketch is initialed in black ink on the front side towards the bottom right hand corner of the paper.

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

1949

Overall Width 1'5.75"; Length 1'

• ink
• charcoal
• paper