Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Mosaic

Object Number

2012-82-1

Description

Small stone mosaic depicting pale colored fish surrounded by various shades of blue and greens. The mosaic is in a wooden frame with a metal plaque along the bottom reading, "Ravenna Mosaics, Inc. New York". An inscription in black ink on the back reads, "Sample for Mosaic seat/ for city Backyard Garden/ Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Exhibition 1929/ Ely Kahn, architect/ A. Purves, Designer/ Ravenna Mosaics, Maker."

Provenance

In 1929, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibit called "The Architect and the Industrial Arts." Ely Kahn and other architects designed rooms for the exhibit. Purves designed a mosaic bench in the backyard garden, which was produced by the Ravenna Mosaic Company. Photos of the bench and the exhibit are in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

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.