Collection: Noah Purifoy

Noah Purifoy (1917–2004) was an American artist and a foundational figure in the assemblage movement. Born in Snow Hill, Alabama, Purifoy studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and became one of the first artists to respond directly to the 1965 Watts Rebellion, transforming debris from the uprising into large-scale sculptural assemblages that toured internationally.

In the late 1980s, Purifoy relocated permanently to Joshua Tree, California, where he spent the final fifteen years of his life constructing an expansive outdoor environment of assemblage sculpture across ten acres of desert land. The site — now managed by the Noah Purifoy Foundation — is recognised as one of the most significant examples of environmental assemblage art in the United States. Ed Ruscha served as a trustee of the Foundation.

Purifoy's work is held in major public collections including LACMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A major retrospective, Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada, was presented at LACMA in 2015.

The New Rare holds printed matter and ephemera related to Noah Purifoy, including foundation publications and printed documents from the Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture, Joshua Tree.