TG Purvis’s Junks off Hong Kong, 1926

Thomas “TG” Purvis (1861-1933) was a ship’s captain turned maritime artist. He sailed around the world to just about everywhere, ran a photographic studio for a time, took some time off and studied art in London at the Camberwell School of Art in 1904. In 1915 he left his family in London, moved to Hong Kong, and worked on ships again until about 1925. Though he loved and had long worked on sail ships he lamented their decline while having to work on steamships. He never went home. The picture below – Junks off Hong Kong – was painted while in Hong Kong in 1926. He died in Hong Kong in 1933. Several of his five children became noted artists too.