Faces of Young: Purvis Young’s Good Bread Alley

publication date: Jul 26, 2012  Antiques & Fine Art Magazine

In 2011, Purvis Young’s “Mary and Jesus” realized a $25,000 (hammer) price at Slotin’s Fall Masterpiece Sale essentially doubling the previous auction record price for an example of Young’s work. It was a watershed moment for the Miami-based African-American folk artist who passed away a little over a year earlier after a long battle with diabetes. Without any formal training, or even a high school degree, Young overcame an adolescence of crime to become one of the most important outsider artists; his work both known and shown throughout the world. Examples of Young’s work reside in over fifty museums, some of which include The Smithsonian American Art Museum; The High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia; The Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C,; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; and The Bass Museum in Miami.