Artist: Purvis Young
Title: Horses
Medium: Original Acrylic on Wood
Size: 18 x 27 inches
Framed Size: 20 x 18.25 inches

Artist Information: Purvis Young was born in Liberty City, a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, on February 2, 1943. As a young boy his uncle introduced him to drawing, but Young lost interest quickly. He never attended high school.Young served 3 years (1961–64) in prison at North Florida's Raiford State Penitentiary as a teenager for breaking and entering. While in prison he would regain his interest in art and began drawing and studying art books. When released, he began to produce thousands of small drawings, which he kept in shopping carts and later glued into discarded books and magazines that he found on the streets. He proceeded to move into the Overtown neighborhood of Miami. Young found himself attracted to a vacant alley called Goodbread Alley, which was named after the Jamaican bakeries that once occupied the street; he would start living there in 1971.In the early seventies he found inspiration in the mural movements of Chicago and Detroit and decided to create a mural of inspiration Overtown. He had never painted before, but inspiration struck and he began to create paintings and nailing them to the boarded up storefronts that formed the alley. He'd paint on wood he found on the streets and occasionally paintings would "disappear" from the wall, but Young didn't mind. About two years after starting the mural, tourists started visiting the alley, mainly white tourists. Occasionally Young would sell paintings to visitors - tourists and collectors alike - right off the wall. The mural garnished media attention, including the attention of millionaire Bernard Davis, owner of the Miami Art Museum. Davis became a patron of Young’s, providing him with painting supplies as well. Davis died in 1973, leaving Young a local celebrity in Miami. In the late 1990s and early 2000s he began exploring other inspirations by watching historical documentaries about war, the Great Depression, commerce, and Native American conflicts and struggles in the United States. In 1999 the Rubell family, notable art collectors from New York, purchased the entire content of Young's studio, a collection of almost 3,000 pieces. In 2008 the Rubell's donated 108 works to Morehouse CollegeWith artistic success came monetary gain, and Young failed to maintain his estate. Before his death he became involved in a legal battle with former manager, Martin Siskind. Young sued Siskind for mismanagement of funds. In response, Siskind successfully petitioned for Young to be declared mentally incompetent and Young's affairs were placed in control of legal guardians. According to friends, Young was not incompetent and was left destitute by the procedures. Siskind stated that he and Young had settled the suit amicably, and that Young retained ownership of 1,000 paintings and was financially stable.Young suffered from diabetes, and towards the latter years of his life he had other health problems, undergoing a kidney transplant in 2007. Purvis Young died on April 20, 2010, in Miami, from cardiac arrest and pulmonary edema. He is survived by his partner Eddie Mae Lovest; his two sisters Betty Rodriguez and Shirley Byrd; a brother, Irvin Byrd; four stepdaughters and 13 step-children.




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