Tom Purvis
(1888-1959), Painter and poster artistSitter in 5 portraits
Artist of 2 portraits
Tom Purvis was a painter and commercial poster artist. Purvis was born in Bristol, the son of sailor and marine artist TG Purvis. He studied at Camberwell School of Art and worked for six years at the advertising firm of Mather and Crowther before becoming a freelance designer. From 1923 to 1945 Purvis worked for the London and North East Railway (LNER) as a poster designer. As well as his work for the LNER, Purvis also designed posters for the Gentlemen's' outfitters Austen Reed and for the 1932 British Industries Fair. In 1930 he joined the Society of Industrial Artists. He gave up poster design after the Second World War to paint portraits and religious pictures.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Pat Waugh
09 August 2015, 00:28
He lived in the Annexe of the Grosvenor Hotel in Weston-super-Mare, where a lot of his art-work was stored, it was also the private home of the then owner Mme Jane Bowtell (believed to be related to the Jays mineral company family) He was the step-father of Deborah Kerr the film artist.