Augusta Christine Savage
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Background
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- Born February 29, 1892, Green Cove Springs, FL - Died March 26, 1962, New York - Raised in Green Cove Springs FL, and West Palm Beach, FL - Original name Augusta Christine Fells - 13 brothers and sisters - Education now Florida A & M University) for one year in Tallahassee, Florida, and The Cooper Union
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Influences
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- Artist - Activist - Arts educator - She had an influence on other artists including children
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Experiences
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- now Florida A & M University) for one year in Tallahassee, Florida - Was in county fair in Florida, sold animal sculptures - stung by racist French Government - This experience inspired Savage to become active in the political and social issues concerning African Americans - through the efforts of W. E. B. Du Bois, Savage was awarded a scholarship in 1925 to study in Italy -Created sculptures for World's Fair - helping to launch the careers of a number of other artists during the 1930s and 1940s
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one big expierence
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- Through the efforts of W. E. B. Du Bois, Savage was awarded a scholarship in 1925 to study in Italy. - Produced many small clay figures of people around the city, one became especially popular and is considered among her best works. - It caught the eye of the head of the National Urban League. - He asked the Julius Rosenwald Fund, a philanthropic organization established by the founder of the department store Sears Roebuck, to award Savage a scholarship.
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another big expierence
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- To earn money she convinced the superintendent of the local county fair, George Currie, to let her set up a booth to sell her animal sculptures. - Currie believed she had a lot of talent. Currie's friend arranged for her to take art classes at a tuition-free school called the Cooper Union in New York. - She landed a job as an apartment caretaker to cover living expenses. - Three months later, though, she lost her job and soon found herself penniless. - Recognizing her talent, the Cooper Union Advisory Board voted to supply funds to meet Savage's living expenses.
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Interesting jobs
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- Teacher - Sculture/ artist - assistant supervisor in the Federal Arts Project - worked in some fairs and sold art
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Evolution of early work to latest work
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- Augusta began making clay objects as a child - Her father would beat her when he found them - He believed her sculpture to be a sinful practice - Later she sculpted a Virgin Mary figure, when her father saw it he changed his mind, regretting his past actions - principal of her new school encouraged her talent, and paid her one dollar a day to teach modeling during her senior year - This began a lifelong commitment to teaching as well as to art - Augusta latest work consist of mostly bigger amazing and more detailed sculptures
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Travel
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- Traveled in Florida as a young adult - moved to New York in 1019 with only $4.60 - Savage won a Julius Rosenwald fellowship in 1929, that allowed spent time in Paris found work there - won a second fellowship to continue her studies another year - Savage returned the United States in 1932 while the Great Depression was at it's worst - In 1940, Savage moved out of the city to live inthe Catskill Mountains area - she became ill late in her life moved back to New York City to be with her daughter and her family
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Historical work
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- Busts of W.E.B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey - Gamin - The Tom Tom - The Abstract Madonna - Envy - A Woman of Martinique - Lift Every Voice and Sing (also known as The Harp) - Sculptural interpretation of Negro Music
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Social Justice
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- helped launch careers of some black artists - fought against the French Government because they did not except her into an French art program because she was black - she wrote letters and articles were published in the paper
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Materials and Techniques Used
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- Savage used the natural clay found in her community, in Green Cove Springs FL, as a child - Savage struggled with money in her early life and had to use cheep clay - As Savage became a better sculpturist she had access to better clay
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Major Works and Accomplishments
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- Took place in the County Fair as a young adult in Florida selling animal sculptures - Took classes at the Cooper Union in New York - Traveled in Europe and won two Julius Rosenwald fellowship awards - Created a sculpture named The Harp - Savage started to teach sculpting for young adults - helped to found the Harlem Artists' Guild
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One major accomplishment
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- Eventually Savage did get her opportunity to study abroad. - Savage won a Julius Rosenwald fellowship in 1929, based in part on her sculpture of her nephew entitled Gamin - a young street child - Savage spent time in Paris and found support for her work there. - She exhibited at the Grand Palais and won a second fellowship to continue her studies another year. - Another grant allowed her to travel in Europe.
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another major accomplishment
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- she began teaching art and established the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts - Savage helped many young African-American artists, including Jacob Lawrence and Norman Lewis. - She also lobbied the Works Projects Administration (WPA) on behalf of African-American artists to help them find work during this time of financial crisis and helped to found the Harlem Artists' Guild - This led to a directorial position at the WPA's Harlem Community Center, - which offered art instruction for all kinds of students
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one major piece of work
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- Created a sculpture for the 1939 New York World's - Fair. Inspired by some of the lyrics of the poem \"Lift Every Voice and Sing,\" she created The Harp. - The work re-interpreted the musical instrument to feature African-American faces, depicted as if they were singing, appeared at the top of the harp strings, and the instrument's sounding board is transformed into a hand and arm. - In the foreground, the figure of a young man kneeled, offering music in his hands. - Although this is considered to be one of her major works, - The Harp was destroyed at the end of the fair.
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Impact on society during lifetime
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- she was some young black artists looked up to - she sponsored some government related programs - fought against racism and sexism
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Honors and Awards
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- Traveled in Europe and won two Julius Rosenwald fellowship awards - honored to travel to Europe for arts
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disappointments
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- her father did not allow her to make animal sculptures as a child - he would beat her - he was a methodist minister - Savage applied to a special summer program to study art in France, but was rejected because of her race
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one detailed disappointment
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- She liked to sculpt animals and other small figures. - But her father was a Methodist minister and didn't allow her to make sculptures of small figures and animals, and did whatever he could to stop her. - He sometimes would whip her if he found any of the small sculptures.
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another detailed dissapointment
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- Savage applied to a special summer program to study art in France, but was rejected because of her race. - She sent letters to the local media about the program selection committee's discriminatory practices. - Savage's story made headlines in many newspapers.
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other talents
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- she was also a talented teacher
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teaching expierences
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- paid a dollar a day to teach sculpting in her senior year of high school - after she came back from Europe she taught sculpting to some young adults
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Salon of Contemporary Negro Art
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- a gallery specializing in the art of African Americans - Augusta created it
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Relationship with other artists of the Harlem Renaissance
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- Savage new Aaron Douglas a painter who was part of the Harlem renaissance through the WPA - They both did work for the WPA - She knew people such as Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, Hale Woodruff, Lois Mailou Jones, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, Richmond Barthé, Dox Thrash, Sargent Claude Johnson, Laura Wheeler Waring, Beauford Delaney, and James VanDerZee - All took part in the Harlem Renaissance
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Savage' s Father
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- Her father did not allow Augusta to make small sculptures as a child - He did not believe in them - he was a methodist minister, he would beat her if he found them - but when Augusta was a senior in high school one of her teachers recognized her art and paid her a dollar a day to teach clay modeling classes - then he began to support her
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Savage's Husbands
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- John T. Moore - James Savage - Robert Lincoln Poston
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Savage's Daughter
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- Irene Connie Moore - Daughter of John T. Moore - savage was married at 16 years old to John - Irene was born in 1908
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Legacy
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Savage died of cancer on March 26, 1962, in New York City. Savage is remembered today as a great artist, activist, and arts educator, serving as an inspiration to the many that she taught, helped, and encouraged.
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source card
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www.biography.com/people/augusta-savage-40495 www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Augusta_Savage.aspx americanart.si.edu/collections/.../artist... www.blackpast.org › Gender › Women www.prattlibrary.org/locations/afam/?id=8982 http://dos.myflorida.com/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/augusta-savage/ http://www.driskellcenter.umd.edu/ northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1998/art/pages/savage.htm
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Cooper Union
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- Savage extended the Cooper Union with out charge in the 1920s - This is where she bag an to get noticed and make more advanced sculptures
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Life In Harlem
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- She was one of the few members who remained in Harlem after the movement's demise
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Family Disaster
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- her father became paralyzed - a hurricane destroyed her parents' house in Florida - Savage moved her family into her small apartments
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Schools named after her
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- In 2004 the Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts-a small public high school, opened in Baltimore, Maryland - Savage's old high school in florida was turned into the Augusta Savage Cultural Arts Center
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Towards the end of her life
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- Savage moved near the Catskills in 1940 - Savage taught art and worked on a mushroom farm for a while in the Catskills - In 1960, she moved in with her daughter Irene in New York City - She died of cancer in NYC, 1962
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Gamin
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- one of her most well known sculptures - Sculpted in plaster over a weekend - one of her most successful sculpture - Gamin was so well received in New York, both the Urban League's Eugene Kinckle Jones and John E. Nail raised funds for Savage to study abroad
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portrait sculptor
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- earned a reputation as a portrait sculptor - almost all of her works were portrait sculptures - her most famous one is Gamin
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A Woman of Martinique
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- made out of marble, painted plaster - 16.5 cm. (6.5 in.) - Possibly Martiniquaise or head of a Martinique woman
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The Harp
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- Augusta Savage created The Harp in response to the theme of the New York World Fair's Board of Design - \"The American Negro's Contribution to Music, Especially to Song\" (Patton 129) - The figure who is kneeling presents a plague, reading the anthem's title \"Lift Every Voice and Sing.\" - This symbolism is reflected through the idea that African Americans hopes of living in harmony and leaving behind the racial injustices of the South
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Retirement
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- Augusta Savage retired in 1945 to pursue her newfound interest in writing fiction - Also because of family matters and financial matters
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Great Migration
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- Augusta Savage is considered \"one of the key leaders of the New Negro Movement\" - At a young age Savage was a part of the Great Migration when she moved to New York City from Florida in 1921 - She was classically trained at the Pratt Institute and the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art - completing a four year degree in three years
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What The Harp was influenced by
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- Negro spirituals and hymns - James Weldon Johnson's \"Lift Every Voice and Sing\"
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Quotes
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- \"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.\" - \"From the time I can first recall the rain falling on the red clay in Florida. I wanted to make things. When my brothers and sisters were making mud pies, I would be making ducks and chickens with the mud.\"
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Augusta Savage Gallery
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- located in New Africa House at the University of Massachusetts Amherst - Gallery was founded in 1970 - Named in honor of renowned sculptor Augusta Savage
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Royal Academy of Fine Arts
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- The Royal Academy of Fine Arts offered Savage a scholarship - it is located in Rome - The scholarship only included tuition - Savage couldn't raise enough money to travel and living expenses - Savage was not able to attend
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Joe Gould
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- writer and eccentric Joe Gould became obsessed with Augusta Savage - He sent her sent her a ton of letters and called her constantly - he wanted to marry her - eventually this became harresment
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Time in Paris
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- Savage attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, a leading Paris art school - In Paris she studied with the sculptor Charles Despiau - She exhibited and won awards in two Salons and one Exposition
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Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts
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- located in a basement on West 143rd Street in Harlem - Savage opened her studio to anyone who wanted to paint, draw, or sculpt - Some of her students who later became nationally known artists were, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Gwendolyn Knight
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Kenneth B. Clark
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- Her student Kenneth B. Clark whose later research contributed to the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that ruled school segregation unconstitutional
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portraits
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- Savage created portraits of many prominent African Americans - including abolitionist Frederick Douglass, poet James Weldon Johnson, composer W. C. Handy, and others
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Savage's largest work
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- Savage took a leave of absence from her position at the Harlem Community Art Center - spent almost two years completing the sixteen-foot sculpture, the Harp
