Born in 1941 in Washington, D.C., Martin Puryear was the oldest of seven children. From a young age, he constructed things such as a bows and arrows and guitars. Puryear attended Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., majoring in biology before switching to art. Between 1964–66 he served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, where he taught English, French, biology, and art. There he sketched the West African flora and fauna and learned the craft of local carpenters. After a backpacking trip in 1967 in Lapland with his brother, Puryear spent two years at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm. He studied printmaking in his coursework while working on independent sculpture projects. He also spent a few weeks assisting cabinetmaker James Krenov. As he had done in Africa, Puryear took the opportunity to investigate popular, local craft traditions, but he also sought out modern Scandinavian design. Puryear’s preference for using unadulterated materials and clearly visible methods of construction was evident at this time. His practice of interweaving strips of wood appeared in early sculptures. The artist’s first solo exhibition, at the Gröna Palletten Galleri in Stockholm, was held in 1968.
Read MoreAfter returning to the United States, Puryear studied at Yale University, earning an MFA in 1971. Among the visiting instructors who made an impression on him were Robert Morris and Richard Serra. While the unitary forms of Minimalist art would influence him, he would reject both its strict geometry and its industrial fabrication. He further immersed himself in the methods of carpenters, coopers, and patternmakers around this time.
Shortly after leaving Yale, the artist joined the faculty of Fisk University in Nashville. He taught at the University of Maryland in College Park in 1974–78. While teaching in Maryland, he maintained a studio and residence in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. A 1977 a fire destroyed many of his possessions and artworks. To put this loss behind him, he left the East Coast for Chicago, where he taught at the University of Illinois.
