Peter Purves Smith, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Peter Purves Smith

Australian painter

Date of Birth: 26-Mar-1912

Place of Birth: East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Date of Death: 27-Jul-1949

Profession: painter

Nationality: Australia

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Peter Purves Smith (26 March 1912 – 23 July 1949), born Charles Roderick Purves Smith, was an Australian painter.
Born in Melbourne, Purves Smith studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London and under progressive art teacher George Bell in Melbourne. In his student years, Purves Smith emerged as a uniquely confident artist.
He was the first modern artist in Australia to paint historical Australian subjects, including the explorers Burke and Wills, and was among the first Australian artists to have direct contact with the international Surrealist movement.
He travelled throughout Europe in the late 1930s, painting many of his most celebrated works in Paris.
In 1941, art critic Clive Turnbull identified Purves Smith, William Dobell, and Purves Smith's close friend Russell Drysdale as "the three most significant Australian artists" of the era.
However, Purves Smith's artistic career was put on hold while he served in World War II, and later by illness.
He died in 1949, leaving behind a small yet influential body of work.



Alternative names	Sir George Russell Drysdale
Description	Australian painter
Date of birth/death	7 February 1912	29 June 1981
Location of birth/death	Bognor Regis	Sydney
Work period	from mid 1930s until late 1970s
Work location	Australia
Authority control	: Q3453456 VIAF: 79441966 ISNI: 0000 0001 1030 1462 ULAN: 500020909 LCCN: n81071284 NLA: 36172773 WorldCat