| Tom
Purvis was born in June 12 1888, the son of a sailor
turned marine painter (marine artist TG Purvis (1861-1933)).
Purvis studied at Camberwell School of Art, and with
Sickert and Degas. He then spent six years working as
a designer for the advertising agency, Mather and Crowther,
before establishing a freelance practice, whilst studying
lithography at the Avenue Press. In 1907 he designed
his first independent posters, for Dewar's Whisky. Other
major commissions followed, including many well-known
works for LNER. During the 1914-18 war Purvis served
with, and became a captain of, the Artist Rifles in
France, until he was wounded. In the 1930s Purvis was
a very successful poster designer, charging up to £250
for a design. Influenced by the Beggarstaff Brothers
and German designers such as Hohlwëin, Purvis's
style was varied, ranging from flat areas of colour
for LNER, to 'massive representations of the human form
and forceful lettering in his posters for Austin Reed
and the British Industries Fair'. Purvis 'moved British
poster design away from its reliance on traditional
imagery to a symbolism influenced by European designers'
such as Hohlwëin. Purvis was involved in the design
of the 'Purma' camera in the 1930s.
In 1935 Purvis served on the Committee for the British
Art in Industry Exhibition, and in 1936 was made one
of the first eleven Royal Designer's for Industry,
becoming master of the RDI Faculty in 1940. In October
1939, Advertising World presented a summary of Purvis's
thoughts on poster design, taken from Poster Progress,
a five-year survey of world-wide poster design, to
which he wrote the introduction. In 1940, Purvis designed
'Lend to Defend His Right to be Free', for the National
Savings Committee, using his son Roger as the design,
as he never did preliminary sketches. Purvis worked
as a war artist for the Ministry of Supply, based
in London, from 1940 to 1945. In 1941 he assured readers
of Advertiser's Weekly that he had not abandoned poster
design whilst 'painting for posterity' in factories
in Scotland, but was working on a poster for the Air
Ministry. Purvis was also a book illustrator, including
Bomber's Moon by Negley Farson (1941). Post-war he
gave up poster designing to paint portraits, and in
the last years of his life, religious pictures. He
died on August 27 1957/9.
Information taken from: Darracott, J. and
Loftus, B., Second World War Posters, 1981
(1972), p.50, London Transport Museum Database, February
2000, taken from Green, 1990, Livingston, A. and Livingston,
I., Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers,
1992, p.161, Outdoor, 'Plain Speaking to Poster Buyers
- By Tom Purvis; in New Book', Advertising World,
October 1939, pp.23-24, Anonymous, 'Tom Purvis is
Painting in Scotland', Advertiser's Weekly,
July 17 1941, p.58; Email from Prof Denis Mollison,
May 2005
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