Savage, Augusta
1892-1962 · Contribution: 1921-1939
Pioneering Harlem Renaissance sculptor and educator who launched the careers of numerous major Black artists, including Jacob Lawrence
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Became a central sculptor and educator of the Harlem Renaissance, gaining early recognition for a bust of W.E.B. Du Bois commissioned by the Harlem Library, then co-founding the Harlem Artists Guild in 1935 and establishing the Harlem Community Art Center in 1937, where she taught sculpture and personally launched the careers of numerous Black artists, including securing Jacob Lawrence's first scholarship and paid government arts position; her 1939 sculpture 'The Harp,' commissioned for the New York World's Fair, was one of the most popular attractions at the entire exposition.
Life & background
Born in Florida, where she first developed her sculpting skills using natural red clay as a child despite her father's strong religious objection to what he considered idol-making, Savage moved to New York City in 1921, completing her four-year degree at the Cooper Union in just three years on scholarship. Early recognition for a bust of W.E.B. Du Bois commissioned by the Harlem Library established her reputation, though she faced repeated rejection from further study opportunities and funding due to her race and gender, including a notorious incident in which a French summer arts program rescinded her acceptance once organizers learned she was Black; her own Harlem community raised funds to send her to Paris to study regardless. Returning to New York, she became a foundational figure in the Harlem Renaissance, co-founding the Harlem Artists Guild and establishing the Harlem Community Art Center, where she taught and mentored numerous artists who became major figures in their own right, including securing both a scholarship and a Works Progress Administration position for a young Jacob Lawrence. Her 1939 World's Fair commission, 'The Harp,' inspired by the song 'Lift Every Voice and Sing,' became one of the fair's most photographed and popular works, though, like much of her plaster and clay-based output, it was destroyed after the fair closed, leaving relatively little of her physical body of work surviving today.
Sources
- MyModernMet; Domestika; FXLB NY (Influential Black Artists)
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