Purvis Young
1943–2010
Purvis Young was born in 1943 and raised in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami. As a teenager, Young was sentenced to three years in prison for breaking and entering. While incarcerated, he rediscovered his childhood passion for drawing, inspired by the works of Rembrandt, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Gauguin, which he encountered in the art books provided to him.
After his release in 1964, Young taught himself to paint and began to use acrylic and commercial paint on large assemblages of found wood, cardboard, Masonite, or discarded furniture. Young’s prolific depictions of his neighbors and surroundings were first layered on the walls of the abandoned passageway in Miami known as Goodbread Alley and later piled in stacks that stretched toward the ceiling of his studio.
A prolific painter, Young received recognition in his lifetime, and his work was widely exhibited and collected. He died in 2010.
