Andrew Purches. Master Printer, Artist and Collector.

The Ayton West Gallery was established to dispose of, by sale, the private collection of prints, paintings, drawings and images from the estate of the late Andrew Purches.

Andrew Purches. Master Printmaker. 1939 - 2020.

Andrew graduated with a diploma in fine art in 1962 from Winchester School of Art and then from the result of a meeting with the artist Hans Hesse in a York Art gallery he was apprenticed to study painting with the renowned artist Dieter Wallert in Italy.

Andrew spent the best part of 18 months living by the beach in Levanto in Italy. He learnt from his master Dieter everything from how to mix paint to applying it to the canvas and he was also influenced by the many European artists that swung by to pay their respects to Dieter.

After returning to a bleak England he found work as a visualizer at Carreras, the cigarette company. But shortly after he got a job at the Curwen Press, with Stanley Jones, where he mastered the art of lithography. An art which would take him on a lifelong pursuit as an artist lithographer.

He set up his first press in Peckham, South London. Then Sussex, London Bridge and back again to Sussex. Here he produced many editions for artist over his life, which included, amongst others, Elizabeth Blackadder, Harvey Daniels, David Remrfy, Tom Hammick, Timothy Storrier, Jack Miller, Andrew Vicarri and, most notably, a long personal relationship developed with the Australian master Arthur Boyd, for whom Andrew assisted in some of the transcription work and printed his original lithograph editions including the world renowned Shoalhaven Quartet in 1988.

In 1970 Andrew also worked with John Lennon on his ‘Bag One’ lithograph series.

Acting as an art consultant, Andrew was brought in to assist Scotland Yard art fine art and antiquities squad. One example of many escapades, around 1974, Dad was contacted by the metropolitan police to pose as an expert to entrap art thieves, who were trying to sell a stolen Caravaggio painting. Always game for an adventure, Andrew allowed himself to be set up to meet the villains in a car park in north London. With disguised police nearby, and pretending to be disinterested, he examined the painting in the back of his car. However the thieves sensed the police presence, pushed Andrew aside and took his car, driving of at speed still with the painting. There was a terrific car chase by the police which ended up with the car being dumped in a reservoir. What became of the painting is written about by Peter Watson in his Emmy nominated ‘The Caravaggio Conspiracy, 1984.

Its impossible to condense two or perhaps three lives into a few paragraphs, but Andrew was a fine painter, art consultant, prolific art dealer, teacher, master print-maker and later a district councilor. His interests were very wide, his collection of art and books has filled the family house and his collection of printing presses occupied a sizable area area of a barn.

19th June 2022