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Augusta Savage: Pioneering Black Sculptor of the Harlem Renaissance

by Megan D Robinson for ArtandObject.com

Augusta Savage posing with her sculpture Realization, created as part of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. Photo by Andrew Herman, c. 1938. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

Acclaimed American sculptor, activist, and arts educator Augusta Savage (1892—1962) was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance who fought for equal rights for African American artists and inspired future generations as a teacher. An outspoken critic of the fetishized “negro primitive” aesthetic favored by the white art world, Savage beautifully sculpted her fellow African Americans with realism, humanity, and personality, combatting the stereotypical portrayals of the time.

Born in Florida, Savage started sculpting figures out of local red clay as a child, despite the disapproval of her family. Considering her sculptures “graven images,” her father, a Methodist minister, disapproved of her art. Savage has said that her father “licked me four or five times a week,” she once recalled, “and almost whipped all the art out of me.” But she continued to sculpt, becoming so adept at her craft that her high school principal had her teach clay modeling classes.

Married in 1907 at the age of fifteen, Savage was widowed shortly after the birth of their daughter. She divorced her second husband in 1920, and she lost her third husband to pneumonia in 1939.

Augusta Savage, Lift Every Voice and Sing (also known as The Harp). The sculpture was destroyed at the Fair's end in 1940. The photo was distributed by the New York World's Fair Dept. of Feature Publicity in 1939. New York Public Library Digital Collections, New York, New York, USA

In 1919, her sculpting prowess won her prize-winning recognition for the most original exhibit at the Palm Beach County Fair. After seeking commissions in Jacksonville, Florida, Savage moved to New York City in 1921, where she studied at the scholarship-based Cooper Union school, beating out 142 other people on the waiting list. Completing the four-year degree program in just three years, she got her first commission from the New York Public Library for a bust of W. E. B. DuBois. Working at a Manhattan steam laundry to support her family, Savage’s superb skills led to more commissions, including busts of Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey and important NAACP member, William Pickens Sr.

Augusta Savage, Gamin, ca. 1929, painted plaster, 9 x 5 3⁄4 x 4 3⁄8 in. (22.9 x 14.7 x 11.2 cm.) Gift of Benjamin and Olya Margolin, 1988.57. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA

In 1923, after her acceptance to the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts’ summer program was rescinded because she was Black, Savage wrote a letter to the New York World—the first of her many public fights for equal rights. That year, with help from grants and donations, Savage traveled to France, studied at a significant Parisian art school, won awards at the Parisian Salon and Exposition, and toured France, Belgium, and Germany.

The first African American artist elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1934, Savage was also the first African American woman to open her own gallery in the US: Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts. She taught painting, drawing, and sculpting; students included future artistic luminaries Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Gwendolyn Knight.

Augusta Savage, between 1935-1947. Harmon Foundation Collection, National Archives and Records Administration (NAID 559182), College Park, Maryland, USA

One of four women and only two African Americans to be professionally commissioned by the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Savage created a sculpture celebrating Black people’s musical impact: Lift Every Voice and Sing (or The Harp). Extremely popular and frequently photographed, the 16-foot-tall plaster sculpture depicted twelve singing African American youth as harp strings cradled by the sounding board—an outstretched forearm and hand. A young man knelt at the front and holds out music.

Her last major exhibition was in 1939. Disheartened by the difficulties making it in New York, she moved to Saugerties, where she continued to teach and create.

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More works by Augusta Savage:

Laughing Boy, c. 1932. Marble, 12.5 x 12.5 in. l 31.8 x 31.8 cm. © Estate of Augusta Savage. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA

Reclining Nude, c. 1932. Marble, 9.3 x 18 x 10 in. l 23.5 x 45.7 x 25.4 cm. © Estate of Augusta Savage. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA

Portrait of Gwendolyn Knight (American, 1913-2005), 1934-35. Painted plaster, 18.5 x 8.5 x 9 in. l 47 x 21.6 x 22.9 cm. © Estate of Augusta Savage. The Walter O Evans Collection of African American Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA

Leonore, 1935. Plaster and pigment, 7.3 x 6 x 4 in. l 18.4 x 15.2 x 10.2 cm. © Estate of Augusta Savage. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA

Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Harp), two views, ((model for the 16 foot work shown at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, now destroyed), 1939. Bonded bronze. © Estate of Augusta Savage. University of North Florida Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

The Pugilist, c. 1942. Bronze, 9 x 4.4 x 3.3 in. (11.5 in. tall with base) l 22.9 x 11.2 x 8.3 cm (29.2 cm. tall with base) © Estate of Augusta Savage. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library, New York, New York, USA

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