Peter Purves Smith: papers, early 1900s-2001
- Component identifier:
- Series 9
- Content Summary:
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Charles Roderick (Peter) Purves Smith was born in Melbourne on March 1912, the only son of William Purves Smith and Laura (Loe) née Chapman. He travelled with his family to London in 1915, returning to Melbourne with them in 1921 when his older sister Jocelyn's education was completed. He attended Glamorgan Preparatory School and later Geelong Grammar School. In 1926 Purves Smith commenced a cadetship with the Royal Australian Navy, but failed the Passing-out Examination at the at the end of the four-year course. Following this, he worked for a time as a jackaroo, returning to Melbourne in 1932, after the death of his father. In 1934, Purves Smith undertook a grand tour of Europe with his mother and in 1935, enrolled at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. Returning to Australia in May 1937, Purves Smith enrolled in art classes for five months at the George Bell School.
On 14 June 1946, following a protracted courtship resulting from their separation due to the war, Peter Purves Smith married Maisie Newbold. Russell Drysdale was his best man. After initially making their home in Sydney, they finally settled in Sassafras in the Dandenong Ranges, outside Melbourne. Sadly, they were to have only three years together. In 1949, Peter Purves Smith entered the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital to undergo a thorocoplasty operation in an attempt to relieve the symptoms of the tuberculosis he had contracted in Burma during the war. He died of post-operative shock the next day, on 13 July 1949.
This series comprises papers relating to Peter Purves Smith. There are two scrap books containing cuttings and photographs relating to Purves Smith's career, pages from a sketch book kept on board the Isle de France on the way to the USA in 1939; a sketchbook kept while in Caulfield Hospital, Melbourne; verse and short stories; and memorabilia. There are photographs, mainly black and white, of many of Purves Smith's paintings. They are complemented by a full listing of his works compiled by his biographer, Mary Eagle, in 1999. There are also photographs of his time in Europe, his life with Maisie, and early photographs of himself and his family. Also included in this series is an edited typescript of Mary Eagle's biography, entitled Peter Purves Smith : a painter in peace and war, which was published by Beagle Press in 2000.
Despite his short career as an artist, which was further interrupted by his war service, Peter Purves Smith left a legacy of some 100 works. Since his death, three major exhibitions of these works have been held - in 1950 at the Stanley Coe Gallery, Melbourne; in 1976 at the Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne; and in 2001 at the Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra. Catalogues for these exhibitions are included in this series.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The papers of Maisie Drysdale were donated to the Library in 2001 by Russell Drysdale's daughter, Lynne Clarke, under the Cultural Gifts Program.
- Names:
- Drysdale, Maisie, Lady
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1125623).
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: