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Puryear began his studies in biology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, but soon switched over to painting and illustration and graduated with a fine arts degree in 1963. His early visions were to become a wildlife illustrator, so the combination of biology and art were perhaps not so strange. Puryear spent two years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa where he taught art, biology, French and English. This is also where he had an opportunity to not only observe traditional craftsmen, but also learn how to craft wood using hand tools. Wanting to continue his training in woodcarving, Mr.
Puryear began his studies in biology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, but soon switched over to painting and illustration and graduated with a fine arts degree in 1963. His early visions were to become a wildlife illustrator, so the combination of biology and art were perhaps not so strange. Puryear spent two years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa where he taught art, biology, French and English. This is also where he had an opportunity to not only observe traditional craftsmen, but also learn how to craft wood using hand tools. Wanting to continue his training in woodcarving, Mr.
63 Like many artists of his generation who witnessed the destructiveness of modern warfare and the deterioration of life in American cities, Martin Puryear turned for inspiration to the craft-oriented life of prehistoric societies, whose relationship with nature was fundamental and ritualistic. While retaining the legacy of Minimalism in his use of simple, reductive forms, Puryear rejected the machine aesthetic associated with the work of Donald Judd. Inspired by a lengthy residence in West Africa, his sculptures are hand-constructed from organic materials, usually wood. Puryear treats substances as if they had a life of their own; their essence is preserved, not obliterated, in order to maintain a harmony between the material and the action of its creation. Self is an outstanding example of Puryear's concern for the underlying forces that govern the formal geometries of abstract sculpture.
63 Like many artists of his generation who witnessed the destructiveness of modern warfare and the deterioration of life in American cities, Martin Puryear turned for inspiration to the craft-oriented life of prehistoric societies, whose relationship with nature was fundamental and ritualistic. While retaining the legacy of Minimalism in his use of simple, reductive forms, Puryear rejected the machine aesthetic associated with the work of Donald Judd. Inspired by a lengthy residence in West Africa, his sculptures are hand-constructed from organic materials, usually wood. Puryear treats substances as if they had a life of their own; their essence is preserved, not obliterated, in order to maintain a harmony between the material and the action of its creation. Self is an outstanding example of Puryear's concern for the underlying forces that govern the formal geometries of abstract sculpture.

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