Peter Purves Smith

by Mary Eagle

Published 2001 OUT OF PRINT Hardcover 192 pages 260 x 185 mm ISBN 947349324

Peter Purves Smith in the early 1940s was considered one of Australia's three most promising young artists (the others were his friend Russell Drysdale and the Sydney painter William Dobell). But Purves Smith died in 1949, too soon to make an indelible stamp on the consciousness of later generations of Australians. This book is the story of his life, and is told as a narrative. Throughout, Peter Purves Smith speaks for himself in drawings, paintings, verse and letters.

Book cover featuring an illustration of three men in black suits and bowler hats standing in front of a large airplane with propellers, set against a cityscape background, for the book titled 'Peter Purves Smith: a painter in peace and war' by Mary Eagle.