Katherine Lambert

History of sculpture
African American Art by Lisa Farrington

Objective of the reading: Telling the career stories of several successful African American Artists
who managed to gain traction in the art world and help their community despite the art world
actively acting against them.
Page 40-45
● Edgefield relied on highly skilled enslaved African workers who created sculpture
anonymously.
● “Dave the Potter” or Dave Drake was an enslaved potter in 1820-1860 who was the only
known potter to sign his work. He would also include poetry on his pottery, some having
references to christianity and his life as a slave.
● Thomas Commeraw was a free black man who lived in New York City and was a
successful potter in the late 17 and early 1800’s. He potentially learned his skills as a
slave at the Remmey-frolics factory that was in the area.
● The main use of his stoneware was for harvesting oysters.
● Immigrated back to Africa at the request of the American Colonization society.
Page 121-128
● Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s (1877-1968) career in sculpture began in 1893 when her
wood sculpture was included in the world's Columbian Exposition in Chicago which led
her to getting a scholarship to the Pennsylvania museum school for the industrial arts
where she made 37-figure bas-relief sculptures.
● When she went to Europe in 1899 for further study she was told by her boarding house
in Paris that she could not register, that at the American girls club in Paris, black people
were not permitted. As an apology the club introduced her to the American Renaissance
sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens who became her friend and advised her.
● She took classes at the Academie Colarossi where she was introduced to Rodin. Rodin
arranged private showings of her sculptures for members of his circle.
● Fuller returns to philadelphia and works with Leon Volkmar and Charles Grafly. Shows
her work in the Pennsylvania academy’s Annual exhibit. designed a suit of dioramas for
the Jamestown tercentennial African American Pavillion. It included 150 figures that told
the story of African Americans since their arrival in Jamestown in 1619.
● In 1910 a fire destroyed her Philadelphia warehouse and many of her early pieces were
lost.
● Pan-African Politics began to influence her artwork and in 1913 she created
Emancipation Proclamation, a piece commissioned by Du Bois for the celebration of the
50th anniversary to be held in New York. Described the sculpture as a depiction of
“Humanity weeping over her suddenly freed children, who beneath the gnarled fingers of
fate, step forth into the world, unafraid”. One figure is munched over, one stands proud,
and the other takes a courageous step forward.
● May Howard Jackson (1877-1931) did not travel abroad despite being invited by Fuller’s
parents and attending the Same schools as Fuller. She worked with William Meritt
Chase, Charles Grafly and John Joseph Boyle. She worked with nude models for more
 accuracy. Created a bust of the African American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar for her
husband's school in 1919. She received a Harmon Foundation Bronze award in 1928.
● The Washington Society of Fine Arts reversed their acceptance to her palicatin when
they found out she was a black woman.
● Nancy Elizabeth Prophet studied at RISD but was told not to attend the whites only
opening reception of her graduation. She moved to New York and befriended Gertrude
Vanderbuilt Whitney who helped her fiancé her trip to Europe in 1922. Studied at the
Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and exhibited work in the Paris salons. Sculptures
captured the beauty and the nobility of the black male. Taught at Spelman College in
1934 and became one of the first African American artists to enter the Whitney collection
with the purchase of her bust called Congolaise. By the 1940s her career had
plummeted due to the great depression and rise of abstract art.
● Richmond Barthe attended the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied with Albin
Polasek and Archibald Motley. His works were chosen for the inclusion in the 1927
Negro in Art Week where he was influenced to move to New York in 1929. Sculptures
captured black men and women doing seance like movements. Public commissions
include two works for the Harlem river Housing project in 1937-1938. Won Guggenheim
Fellowships in 1940 and 1941 and was commissioned to create two public monuments
in Port-au-Prince of the Haitian revolutionary leaders Toussaint Louverture and Jean
Jacques Dessalines. Spent much of his later life in Jamaica and Europe.
Page 161
● Augusta Savage (1892-1962) began by studying at Cooper Union where she was
commissioned to sculpt a portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. In 1923 she
was rejected by the fountainebleau school of fine arts because she was black but in
1929. Was able to make it to Europe. She returned to New York 1932 and continued to
sculpt busts of noted African Americans; James Weldon Johnson, Fredrick Douglass,
W.C. Handy. In 1933 she opened the Harlem art workshop and later opened the Harlem
Community Art Center that provided instruction to over 1,500 students. commissioned by
the New York World's fair to create The Harp.
● Selma Hortense Burke (1900-95) archived fame for her portrait of president Roosevelt.
Was a registered nurse but moved to New York and worked as an artists model at Sarah
Lawrence and studied Sculpture at the Harlem Community Art Center. She received a
full scholarship to Columbia university and later studied in Italy, France, Germany and
Austria. She returned to NYC and got her MFA from Columbia. Commissioned to make
Roosevelt bust in 1944 and given solo exhibition at Modernage Gallery. Opened Selma
Burke School of Sculpture in Greenwich Village in 1946. Died while Rosa Parks
sculpture was in progress.
● The Chicago Arts and Crafts Guild had provided support to some of the country’s
best-known American Artists and was founded by a group of teenagers in 1932. The
SSAC served in part as a exhibition space for African American Art.
Page 180
● Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) was a sculptor, painter and printmaker best known for her
political prints and abstract sculptures of women. Also participated in activism and
campaigned to raise the salaries of African American teachers In Durham, North
 Carolina and also arranged for her students released from jail after being wrongfully
arrested. Traveled to Mexico and got inspired by the Mexicanidad style and allied herself
with the Taller de Grafica Popular. Due to the commitment of the TGP to left-wing
politics, it was deemed a communist front and all the members were barred entry into the
US. In protest she decide to renounce her American citizenship and become a citizen of
Mexico and in 1971 was permitted back to the US.
Page 234
● Harold Cousins (1916-92) was known for his metal and mixed media abstract sculptures.
Completed his associates degree at Howard and then relocated to new York to study at
the Arts Students League. He gained inspiration from Kongo “power figures” and
displayed similar use of unconventional media in the form of found objects. Invited to
show at Galerie Raymond Creuze in 1954.
● Richard Hunt’s aim was to fuse natural forms and industrial materials. completed a BA in
Education at the Art institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1957. Won Guggenheim fellowship
in1962-63. Believed non figurative art had just as much capacity to communicate
powerful narrative as representational imagery. Did works informed by the murder of
Ronald Stokes by the police. USed materials such as welded steel, chains, tools, tins,
pots, knives, scissors, engine parts, etc.
● Barbara Chase-Riboud began her life long career in direct wax casting at the American
Academy in Rome and returned to the US in and attended Yale in 1958 where she was
the only African American woman at its school of design and architecture; received her
masters in 1960. Traveled to Morocco, Spain, the Soviet Union, and the people's
republic of china. Sculptures expressed heavy influence from Alberto Giacometti and
decaying textures. Drawn to African headdress and uses raffia, hemp seeds, feathers
and other fibrous material. Commissioned Africa Rising- 20 foot tall bronze Nike figure.
Unrealized memorial to the 11 million Africans who died on slave ships during the
passage from Africa to the new world- including 11 million links of a chain inscribed with
the names of African cities.
● Chaka is Booker works with recycled tires to create densely textured abstract sculptures.
Using materials from truck tires, bicycle tires and inner tubes. Began her career making
wearable art.
● Zenobia Bailey makes highly detailed mandala-like soft sculptures using embroidery,
crochet and beading techniques. Makes wearable art as well as functional rugs and
tapestries inspired by Afro-Caribbean, Asian and Native American aesthetics. Graduated
Pratt institute in 1978.
Questions for Discussion: