Tom Purvis

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameThomas Charles "Tom"•Purvis
Used nameTom•Purvis
Born12 June 1888 in Bristol, England (GBR)
Died27 August 1959 in Bristol, England (GBR)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Tom Purvis was a British painter and one of the most influential commercial poster artists. His father was Thomas George Purvis, a sailor and marine artist known as T. G. Purvis (1861-1933). Tom Purvis went to Camberwell School of Art and then immediately served six years at the advertising firm of Mather and Crowther, and then learned lithography at the Avenue Press.

In World War I Purvis served with the Artists’ Rifles and also produced posters for the Red Cross. In 1923 Purvis started working for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) as Advertising Manager. Between 1923 and 1934 he was responsible for over 100 posters, at the rate of one every two months. Many of his compositions for the wide range of clients he had attracted suggest a dynamic use of photography as an aid to composition. During World War II Purvis was an official artist attached to the Ministry of Supply. Purvis later turned to portraiture as others before him had done, and as a devout Roman Catholic, to religious oil paintings.

All his works submitted in 1928 were designs for posters. The Water Diver is the design for an advertising poster for the LNER. One copy is in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (lithograph, 297 x 196 cm). The other posters can only be derived from the title or subject matter. Summer Sun was also created for the client LNER, and also kept at the MoMA (lithograph, 100.3 x 126.3 cm). The Break – Tennis advertises the British men’s outfitter Austin Reed’s, for whom Purvis also designed an entire series. Posters designed for the Scottish seaside town of Cruden Bay take up the golf theme. A poster with a wink in the eye is The Adventuress, another work for LNER. All were created, as far as is known, in 1928 or shortly before.

Some of the works for the 1932 art contests may be parts of a series of 6 posters Purvis again designed for LNER in 1931, which together made a complete picture under the overall title East Coast Joys. In an exhibition catalog, the individual parts are listed under the titles: Walking Tours, Sun Bathing, Safe Sands, Sea Bathing, Sea Fishing, and Sea Sports. In Los Angeles, obviously not the printed posters but the designs were shown. This could explain why Purvis’ works were exhibited in the paintings and not in the prints or posters section.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1928 Summer Olympics Art Competitions GBR Tom Purvis
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
1932 Summer Olympics Art Competitions GBR Tom Purvis
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC