# Purvis Young artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/purvis-young/
Profile generated: 2026-04-30T08:22:11.049Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1943-02-04
- Death date: 2010-04-20
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Outsider art
- Common media: Painting on found materials, Drawing, Collage, Mural

## About Purvis Young

Purvis Young (1943–2010) was a self-taught American artist of Bahamian descent who lived and worked in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Largely unschooled in formal technique, Young developed an expressive visual language combining painting, drawing, and collage on salvaged materials — scrap wood, discarded doors, cardboard, and other found surfaces. His imagery drew on everyday life around him: urban streets, angels, wild horses, processions, and scenes of social struggle. Young's monumental Good Bread Alley installation, in which he covered a stretch of Overtown buildings with his paintings, drew early attention from curators and collectors. His work is now held by major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Pompidou, LACMA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2018.

## Common works and media

Collectors most frequently encounter Young's paintings and mixed-media works on found materials, including scrap lumber, plywood, doors, metal siding, and cardboard. Common subjects include processions of figures, wild horses, angels, urban landscapes, boats, and eyes. He also produced drawings on paper and bound sketchbook-style journals. Large-scale mural installations are rare but documented, most notably the Good Bread Alley series. Posters and exhibition prints exist but are less common at auction.

## Market and appraisal context

Purvis Young has a deep and actively traded auction market spanning over two decades, with 1,998 cataloged lots and 1,548 priced records dating from January 2003 through April 2026. The market is liquid — 183 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window — though volume has moderated from the prior year's 239 lots. The price distribution is wide: realized prices range from $20 at the low end (small ink-on-paper works) to $350,000 for top-tier pieces, with the interquartile range clustered between $200 (P25) and $750 (P75) and a median of $400. This dispersion reflects Young's prolific output across varied substrates and formats. The bulk of auction activity flows through specialist and regional houses — Material Culture, Akiba Galleries, Nye & Company, Hill Auction Gallery, New River Auctions, Ledbetter Auctions, Joshua Kodner, Neal Auction Company, and Palm Beach Modern Auctions — with occasional blue-chip presence at Christie's. Typical lots are mixed-media paintings on found wood or board, collage portfolios, assemblages, and works on paper including ink drawings and watercolors. Larger works on wood (e.g., 24"×46" paintings) tend to realize $550–$900, while smaller works on paper or cardboard more commonly bring $50–$350. Prints and etchings occupy the lower end. The consistent institutional presence (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney, Centre Pompidou, LACMA, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami) provides enduring market support and collector confidence.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Purvis Young has a deep and actively traded auction market spanning over two decades, with 1,998 cataloged lots and 1,548 priced records dating from January 2003 through April 2026. The market is liquid — 183 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window — though volume has moderated from the prior year's 239 lots. The price distribution is wide: realized prices range from $20 at the low end (small ink-on-paper works) to $350,000 for top-tier pieces, with the interquartile range clustered between $200 (P25) and $750 (P75) and a median of $400. This dispersion reflects Young's prolific output across varied substrates and formats. The bulk of auction activity flows through specialist and regional houses — Material Culture, Akiba Galleries, Nye & Company, Hill Auction Gallery, New River Auctions, Ledbetter Auctions, Joshua Kodner, Neal Auction Company, and Palm Beach Modern Auctions — with occasional blue-chip presence at Christie's. Typical lots are mixed-media paintings on found wood or board, collage portfolios, assemblages, and works on paper including ink drawings and watercolors. Larger works on wood (e.g., 24"×46" paintings) tend to realize $550–$900, while smaller works on paper or cardboard more commonly bring $50–$350. Prints and etchings occupy the lower end. The consistent institutional presence (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney, Centre Pompidou, LACMA, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami) provides enduring market support and collector confidence.

### Appraisal notes

When appraising a Purvis Young work, Appraisily cross-references the artist's auction-record profile — 1,548 priced lots across 23 years — against the specific piece's photographs, dimensions, substrate (found wood, cardboard, posterboard, metal, door), medium (oil, acrylic, mixed media, ink, watercolor), signature presence and placement, condition of the found-material substrate, documented provenance or certificate of authenticity, and any edition details for prints. Comparable lots are selected from recent sales at the same price tier and format: for example, a mixed-media painting on found board would be compared against the Akiba Galleries and Nye & Company results in the $350–$900 range, while an ink-on-paper drawing would reference the $50–$300 results from Material Culture and Antiques & Modern Auction Gallery. The wide interquartile spread ($200–$750) means that size, substrate durability, subject matter (processions, wild horses, angels, urban scenes), and provenance documentation each have significant leverage on estimated value. Specialist consultation in Outsider or self-taught art is recommended for authentication, given Young's informal distribution channels and prolific output.

### Valuation factors

- Substrate and size: works on large found wood panels or doors command significantly more than small works on paper or cardboard
- Medium: oil and mixed-media paintings on found materials are the most sought-after format; ink drawings and prints trade at lower price points
- Condition of the found-material substrate: deterioration, flaking, or water damage on scrap wood, cardboard, or metal can materially reduce value
- Subject matter: processions, wild horses, and angels are characteristic and well-recognized motifs; thematic cohesion can support value
- Provenance and authentication: documented provenance or a certificate of authenticity from a recognized specialist substantially strengthens value, given Young's informal distribution channels
- Auction-house tier: sales at Christie's or other major houses carry premium association; the majority of volume flows through specialist regional houses
- Institutional provenance: works with exhibition history or museum collection provenance command strong premiums
- Market liquidity: with 183 lots offered in the past 12 months and a median price of $400, the market is accessible but individual results vary widely — from $20 to $350,000

### Collector notes

- Purvis Young's market is unusually broad for an Outsider artist: nearly 2,000 auction lots over 23 years mean collectors can find entry points from $50–$200 for small works on paper, while larger paintings on found wood typically range from $400–$900 at specialist auction houses. The $350,000 ceiling indicates that museum-quality or large-scale institutional-grade pieces can reach substantial sums. Collectors should prioritize documented provenance — ideally a certificate of authenticity or a direct chain back to the artist's Overtown studio — as the informal distribution of his work makes authentication a key risk factor. Condition is critical: because Young painted on scavenged materials, substrate stability (checking for warping, delamination, or paint loss) should be assessed before purchase. Material Culture and Akiba Galleries are the most consistent sources of inventory and may offer the best comparative context for pricing. The slight decline in annual lot volume (239 to 183 year-over-year) may reflect normal market cycling rather than softening demand, given the artist's fixed body of work.

### Market caveats

- Young was extremely prolific; the 1,998 cataloged lots likely represent only a portion of total output, and the wide price range ($20–$350,000) means that individual estimates require careful comparable selection
- Works on ephemeral found materials may present condition issues that are not always visible in auction catalog photographs; in-person inspection is recommended before significant purchases
- Authentication remains challenging without clear provenance or a certificate from a recognized Outsider-art specialist; attribution disputes can materially affect value
- The $350,000 maximum price is an outlier well above the P75 of $750; most works trade in the $200–$750 range and appraisals should anchor to the interquartile band unless the piece has exceptional museum or exhibition provenance
- Some recent lots have null price-realized values (e.g., unsold), which are excluded from the priced-lot statistics; the unsold rate should be monitored for market-health signals
- Auction-record data is derived from public auction feeds and may not capture private sales, gallery prices, or direct studio acquisitions, which can differ from auction realizations

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/purvis-young/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-1943-2010-signed-and-authenticated-mixed-media-folk-art-watercolor-painting-555-c-7e6f458a58
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- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-overtown-gathering-colored-etching-on-paper-160a-c-a9688eeff0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-paint-on-wood-and-masonite-untitled-100-c-d8845a4ae8
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-paint-on-wood-and-masonite-untitled-appx-24-h-x-46-w-94-c-94c4cdb940
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-angel-s-funeral-ink-on-paper-w-coa-310-c-1c60c89f64
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-celebration-painting-on-found-board-105-c-9f314bb269
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-man-w-guitar-painting-on-board-coa-104-c-a4952f0574
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-american-1943-mixed-media-painting-301-c-1fbbb44401
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-american-1943-mixed-media-painting-300-c-cca076bcc2
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-1943-2010-mixed-media-on-wood-painting-299-c-92e572410e
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-american-1943-2010-oil-on-found-posterboard-parade-figures-and-musicians-folk-art-outside-art-signed-upper-right-30-x-22-inches-sheet-size-overall-frame-size-34-x-26-1-2-inches-46-c-661e0729be
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-american-1943-2010-mixed-media-painting-16-x-26-207-c-b687e06b31
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-american-1943-2010-multiple-page-collage-portfolio-24-x-24-206-c-c5704261ad
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-purvis-young-american-1943-2010-assemblage-64-x-20-205-c-f5ff2d5da2

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library authority, and institutional sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7261674
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2007004558
- Purvis Young: http://www.purvisyoung.com/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purvis_Young
- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/229103
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/95472436/