Augusta Savage: Sculptor, Instructor, Activist, Inspiration

In light of the incredibly challenging times in which we are living, the Arts sustain us. Artists interpret, create, and provide hope for a somber world that seeks light. Augusta Savage was a woman who overcame tremendous difficulties over the course of her entire life. She prevailed, never giving into what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles that stood squarely in her way, and became a notable artist whose work was internationally celebrated during her lifetime. 

I discovered Savage's name and body of work during my search for artists to explore for my PhD. dissertation. The deeper I delved into Augusta Savage's remarkable life and artwork, the more frustrated I became that almost NO ONE knew of her. How could that be? Periodically, she seems to be "rediscovered" and it appears that Savage 's work is enjoying another small renaissance. Her work was the focus of a recent exhibition at the New York Historical Society that ran from May 3 - July 28, 2019.  

Artist Augusta Savage overcame poverty, racism, and sexual discrimination to become one of America’s most influential 20th-century artists. Her sculptures celebrate African American culture, and her work as an arts educator, activist, and Harlem Renaissance leader catalyzed social change.

While Savage is a "Right Coast" artist, she's unquestionably perfect to profile now. Let's take a look at her life and work!

"I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work."—T. R. Poston, "Augusta Savage," Metropolitan Magazine, Jan. 1935, n.p. 

Augusta Savage at work

Born Augusta Christine Fells in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on February 29, 1892, she was the seventh of fourteen children of Cornelia and Edward Fells. Searching for something to do, she would head over to the nearby Clay County Brick works. In their attempt to keep her safe he workers would chase her away from the drying tunnels and scorching ovens, and to keep her away they would give her a bucket of clay. Augusta would spend hours shaping animals, especially ducks, and set them in the sun to dry. Her father, Edward Fells, a poor fundamentalist Methodist minister, strongly opposed his daughter's early interest in art. He viewed her small clay figures as graven images and punished her for creating them. Savage later recalled her father beating her several times a week; "He nearly whipped all the art out of me," she claimed.

This seems to be the recurring cycle of Augusta’ Savage's life – every advance in her artistic achievement seemed to be followed by bitter disappointment. Her personal life was not particularly stable. In 1907 she married John T. Moore, and the following year her only child, Irene, was born. Moore died several years after Irene's birth. In about 1915, she married James Savage, a carpenter whose surname she retained after their divorce during the early 1920s. In 1923, Savage married Robert L. Poston, her third and final husband, an associate of Marcus Garvey. Poston died in 1924.

Savage's father moved his family from Green Cove Springs to West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1915. Lack of encouragement from her family and the scarcity of local clay meant that Savage did not sculpt for nearly four years. In 1919, a local potter provided clay from which she modeled a group of figures that she entered in the West Palm Beach County Fair. The figures were awarded a special prize and a ribbon of honor. Encouraged by her success, Savage moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where she hoped to support herself by sculpting portrait busts of prominent blacks in the community. When that patronage did not materialize, Savage left her daughter in the care of her parents and moved to New York City with just $4.60. She relocated to Harlem, cleaned houses to pay her rent, and studied at The Cooper Union School of Art. 

Augusta Savage
Gamin
ca. 1920s
Painted plaster

During the mid-1920s when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak, Savage lived and worked in a small studio apartment where she earned a reputation as a portrait sculptor, completing busts of prominent personalities such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. Her best-known work of the 1920s was Gamin, above, an informal portrait bust of her nephew, for which she was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to study abroad.

The scholarship she received was to attend the Fontainebleau School of the Arts in Paris,  however, when the American selection committee discovered she was black, they rescinded the offer, fearing objections from Southern white women who had also been accepted. The reasoning was the white women "would feel uncomfortable sharing accommodations on the ship, sharing a studio, sharing living spaces...Savage managed to get to Paris and had two works accepted for the Salon d'Automne and exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris. In 1931 Savage won a second Rosenwald fellowship, which permitted her to remain in Paris for an additional year. She also received a Carnegie Foundation grant for eight months of travel in France, Belgium, and Germany.

Augusta Savage
Gwendolyn Knight
ca. 1934-35
18 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 9 inches
Painted plaster

Following her return to New York in 1932, Savage established the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts and became an influential teacher in Harlem. In 1934 she became the first African-American member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. 

Augusta Savage
Harlem Girl (Lenore)
ca. 1935
Painted Plaster

In 1937 Savage's career took a critical turn. She was appointed the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center and was commissioned by the New York World's Fair of 1939 to create a sculpture that would symbolize the musical contributions of African Americans. Negro spirituals and hymns were what she decided to symbolize in The Harp. 

Augusta Savage
The Harp
ca. 1937
Plaster

Inspired by the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson's poem Lift Every Voice and Sing, The Harp was Savage's largest work and her last major commission. She took a leave of absence from her position at the Harlem Community Art Center and spent nearly two years completing the sixteen-foot sculpture. Cast in plaster and finished to resemble black basalt, The Harp was exhibited in the court of the Contemporary Arts building where it received much acclaim. The sculpture depicted a group of twelve stylized black singers in graduated heights that symbolized the strings of the harp. The sounding board was formed by the hand and arm of God. A kneeling man holding music represented the foot pedal. Unfortunately, no funds were available to cast The Harp, nor were there any facilities in which to store it. After the fair closed, tragically it was demolished.

Augusta Savage
The Diving Boy
ca. 1939
Bronze

Upon her return to the Harlem Community Art Center, Savage discovered to her dismay that her position had been filled, then the Art Center closed during World War II when federal funds were eliminated. In 1939, she made an attempt to reestablish an art center in Harlem with the opening of the Salon of Contemporary Negro Art. Savage was founder-director of the small gallery that was the first of its kind in Harlem. That venture closed shortly after its opening due to lack of funds. During the spring of 1939, Savage held a small, one-woman show at the Argent Galleries in New York.

Depressed by the loss of her job and failure of her attempts to establish art centers, in 1945 Savage retreated to the small town of Saugerties, New York, in the Catskill Mountains. She reestablished relations with her daughter where she found peace and seclusion. Savage visited New York occasionally, taught children in local summer camps, and produced a few portrait sculptures of tourists. During her years in Saugerties, Savage also explored her interest in writing children's stories, murder mysteries, and vignettes, although none were published. She died in relative obscurity on March 26, 1962, following a long bout with cancer. 

Augusta Savage
Realization
ca. 1938

Augusta Savage was a woman of relentless determination, who lived a challenging, but immensely influential life. She is a woman and an artist of merit.

Sources __________________________________________________________________

NPR, Sculptor Augusta Savage Said Her Legacy Was The Work Of Her Students, 

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/740459875/sculptor-augusta-savage-said-her-legacy-was-the-work-of-her-students, retrieved March 31, 2020

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Augusta Savage, https://americanart.si.edu/artist/augusta-savage-4269, retrieved March 31, 2020

Archives of Women Artists, Augusta Savage, https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/augusta-savage/, retrieved March 31, 2020

Clay Today, Clay County Memories: Augusta Savage Moved International Audiences, https://www.claytodayonline.com/stories/clay-county-memories-augusta-savage-moved-international-audiences,8100, retrieved March 31, 2020