45
●
NOAH PURIFOY (1917 - 2004)
Untitled (Standing Figure)
.
Assemblage construction, including wood, wood veneer and leather, circa 1968-70. Approximately
1308x381x305 mm; 51
1
/
2
x15x12 inches.
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; Artis Lane, Los Angeles. The sculptor Artis Lane
acquired this artwork from Noah Purifoy just before his move to Joshua Tree in 1989. She recalled
- “I purchased the sculpture directly from the artist right before his move to Joshua Tree in 1989.
Noah Purifoy was closing his L.A. studio in preparation for this move. John Outterbridge and I
went to see his L.A. studio before it closed. I purchased the sculpture then and it has been in my
possession since that time.”
Exhibited:
Places ofValidation,Art and Progression
, California African American Museum, Los Angeles,
CA, September 29, 2011 - April 1, 2012.
This striking figurative sculpture is an outstanding example of Noah Purifoy’s important work in
assemblage, and is the first significant work of the artist to come to auction. By 1970, Purifoy had
expanded his range of assemblage material to include such diverse, organic materials such as leather,
feathers, brass and copper.The enigmatic female figure, with leather breasts mounted on her flanks,
and a dense decorative surface, reflects both the assemblage aesthetic and early Surrealist sculpture.
Noah Purifoy had grown up in Alabama - he graduated with an undergraduate degree fromAlabama
State Teachers College in 1943, a graduate degree from Atlanta University in 1948. Noah Purifoy
moved to Los Angeles in 1953 to study at the Chouinard Art Institute. Purifoy was not only the
first African-American student to be enrolled full-time, he was a mature student - receiving a BFA
in 1956, just before turning forty.
TheWatts rebellion in 1965 changed Purifoy’s life and art.At the time Noah Purifoy and fellow artist
Judson Powell ran the art education program at the newly created Watts Towers Arts Center. The
WattsTowers center had grown as a sculpture garden around the towers of assemblage by the eccentric
Italian-American Simon Rodia whom began building them in the 1920s.Together Powell and Purifoy
organized
Junk Art: 66 Signs of Neon
, a seminal exhibition at the University of Southern California.
They exhibited 66 art works made from found debris and junk - all detritus left in the wake of the
Watts riots - alongside photographic documentation. From this period, Purifoy created an important
body of work, along-side his fellow artist John Outterbridge, that is largely credited for influencing
a whole generation of Californian assemblage artists from David Hammons to Senga Nengudi.
Purifoy worked in public art programs of the California Arts Council through the late 1980s - he
initiated programs such as ‘Artists in Social Institutions,’ which brought art into the state prison system.
Purifoy then moved to a large compound near Joshua Tree, California, in the Mojave desert, where
over the last 15 years of his life he created a ten-acre site of large-scale assemblage sculpture.Today the
entire site is preserved in a cultural center and museum, run by the artist’s non-profit foundation.
[60,000/90,000]
