Purvis, Alston W. 1943–

PERSONAL: Born 1943; son of Melvin Purvis (a lawyer and law enforcement agent). Education: Virginia Commonwealth University, B.F.A.; Yale University, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES: Office—Boston University College of Fine Arts, 855 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215. E-mail—apurvis@bu.edu.

CAREER: Graphic designer, translator, writer, and educator. Cooper Union, New York, NY, instructor, 1969–70; Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague, Netherlands, associate professor, 1971–82; School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, director ad interim, 1998–2002; Boston University, Boston, MA, chairman of Graphic Design, c. 2002–; freelance graphic designer and translator for major galleries, corporations, and publishers. Also presented lectures at the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Wolfsonian Foundation at Florida International University, and elsewhere. Exhibitions: Solo and group exhibitions, including exhibitions in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, London, New York, and Paris.

WRITINGS:

Dutch Graphic Design, 1918–1945, Van Nostrand Reinhold (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Martijn F. Le Coultre) A Century of Posters, Waanders (Zwolle, Netherlands), 2003.

(With Martijn F. Le Coultre) Graphic Design 20th Century, Princeton Architectural Press (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Philip B. Meggs) Meggs' History of Graphic Design, J. Wiley (Hoboken, NJ), 2005.

(With Alex Tresniowski) The Vendetta: FBI Hero Melvin Purvis's War against Crime, and J. Edgar Hoover's War against Him, Public Affairs Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor of an essay to Wendingen 1918–1932: A Journal for the Arts, by Martijn F. Le Coultre, Princeton Architectural Press (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Alston W. Purvis has worked primarily as a graphic designer and educator and has authored or coauthored several graphic-design books. For example, in A Century of Posters, which he co-produced with Martijn F. Le Coultre, Purvis provides an introductory discussion of the history of posters, their changing styles, and the artists who produced them. The book also includes more than 400 illustrations of posters.

Although Purvis is known as an accomplished graphic designer, his father, Melvyn Purvis, achieved widespread national public acclaim in the 1930s and 1940s as a dedicated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who played a primary role in capturing some of the era's most notorious criminals, including John Dillinger. In The Vendetta: FBI Hero Melvin Purvis's War against Crime, and J. Edgar Hoover's War against Him, Purvis and collaborator Alex Tresniowski recount Purvis's father's career in the FBI and how then FBI director Hoover turned from an ardent supporter of Purvis to a jealous boss who tried to hamper the career of his one-time protégé even after the senior Purvis left the FBI. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book a "fascinating story." Deirdre Bray Root, writing in the Library Journal, noted that "this exciting story rings true." In a review in Booklist, Connie Fletcher called the book "gripping reading for true-crime fans."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2005, Connie Fletcher, The Vendetta: FBI Hero Melvin Purvis's War against Crime, and J. Edgar Hoover's War against Him, p. 12.

Library Journal, October 15, 2002, Anne Marie Lane, review of A Century of Posters, p. 69; October 1, 2005, Deirdre Bray Root, review of The Vendetta, p. 95.

Publishers Weekly, August 29, 2005, review of The Vendetta, p. 49.

ONLINE

South Dakota Public Broadcasting Web site, http://www.sdpb.org/ (April 29, 2003), Brian Bull, "Alston Purvis," radio interview with author.