The original school book that Purvis chose features grade book vintage style color illustrations and other graphics typical of a 50-yr old textbook. This artist journal contains at least 50 paintings on paper. Many are double page creations.
Title: Sketchbook Journal
Artist: Purvis Young
Cat #PY 2019 SB
Size: Approximately 11 inches height by 9 inches
Approximately 115 pages with drawings, doodles and paintings on most of the surfaces. Many of the pages are signed by the artist. The Journal contains many sheets of various invoice, stationery or other found paper scraps that Purvis Young has creatively mounted onto existing pages of the school book.
The cover is elaborately covered in dark abstract washes of grey and brown tones giving an almost marbleized paper effect.
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Condition: Front and Back cover has wear; pages are as you see in Photos. The binding is fragile and weathered. From numerous reworking by Purvis Young often newly added papers glued past the edge of original ones, therefore the edges are not even: it has a typically folk art style with a unique charm to it.
Vintage 1960s School Workbook
I believe that this book is The Good English Program--- by Laidlaw Brothers-- a publisher of school text books. Early elementary.
I have only photographed a few of the images but the sketch journal is filled with many more and I can provide all details on request.
All of his years in the shabby, lively streets of Overtown, a black neighborhood on the margin of downtown Miami, with its opulent cluster of gleaming glass towers, created his unique Purvis style. It has a Basquiat gestural atmosphere with an aggressive expression.
Each would look handsome framed if you so dared to disassemble the book.