Augusta Savage

By:Tyrese Merriweather
Sherman Rush
Angelo Suiaunoa
Historical Background
Augusta was a famous artist/sculptor that made
a huge impact on the harlem renaissance. She
was born on February 29, 1892 in green cove
florida. She was also a teacher and her studio
was important to her.
Before the Art
Born in a large family Augusta Savage had made art as a child out of clay that
she had found around her area. She had sometimes skipped school just to work on Art
projects, sculpting animals and other small figures. Although doing this had made her
father furious for he was a Methodist Minister, she had continued despite her fathers
actions to stop her from continuing in this activity. He goes as far as Savage once says
that her father almost whipped all the art out of me.
Early Art Career
Unsuccessful in Florida

Savage moves to NYC in early 1920s

Admitted to Cooper Union where she

studied Art

Excelled in her classes and finished her

coursework in 3 years instead of the usual 4

Savage made headlines in newspapers in

1923 after rejection to study Art in France

First black artist to join the National

Lift every voice and sing

This sculpture was made as a harp majorly

influenced by James Weldon Johnsons song Lift
Every Voice and Sing.

The statue shows a number of Black singers lined up

to look like strings on a harp.

The arm and hand is the sounding board of the harp

and is of god.

The kneeling man is holding a sheet of music is to be

the foot pedal.
GAMIN
This sculpture was one of Augusta Savages early career
arts, it also won her a scholarship to travel Europe.

Some suggest that the bust is of her nephew or of a

homeless boy that lived in the streets, due to wrinkled
hat and shirt.

The word Gamin is to be pronounced in french that

means Street Urchin.
The Pugilist
The Pugilist was the last sculpture that Augusta Savage
made.

It has its arms crossed because it is ready to face any

challenge coming its way.

It faces the world with its head tilted also.

The sculpture expresses Savages personality.

It has a positive mood, which symbolizes a strong

person.
Sad truth of her works
Although her sculptures were great they just wasnt funded enough to be made to
last a long time.

Due to the lack of sales and income messed with her career.

Her sculptures were made out of plaster and she couldnt raise or have didnt have
the money to make her works out better/permanent materials.

The sculpture of Lift Every Voice and Sing was made out of plaster when she did
it for the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. It was destroyed due to not having money
to have it removed and made out of better materials, but was later remade.
Her mark on History
The Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts, a Baltimore, Maryland public
high school, is named in her honor

She was inducted in the Florida artist hall of fame

In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage was released in September
2009 by Lee and Low, a New York publishing company.

The biography of Augusta Savage intended for younger readers has been written
by author Alan Schroeder.
How she has been an inspiration
She has been an inspiration to many young people ever since her art has been
displayed into the the world. She especially inspired young African American females
to into sculpting and art. Most of them attend colleges that can help them continue
their art career to leave their mark just like her.
 How she influenced us
She influence us because she found a way to make good things happen even if the
situation is bad. She made believe that we can do alot more in life and try not to waste
it on nothing. That the rise in black artists has been going up ever since the Harlem
Renaissance.
Websites for work cited
1. Biography.org
2. Google.com/AugustaSavage
3. Historicalevents.com
4. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=we
b&rct=j&url=/amp/www.biography.com/.am
p/people/augusta-savage-
40495&ved=0ahUKEwjt0Ovd05DTAhVBU
mMKHT0lCIcQFgiGATAV&usg=AFQjCN
GBjCP_qLPHmwGz4BWW9TDdxRUP3w&
sig2=EMDDriIZYbI82895p9HxOQ
1. For the information on Augusta Savage we
used biography.org. I'm the website it shows
Ms. Savages early life and hard struggles,
from multiple sources we had learned the
rough beginning of a African American artist
in the making of the early 1900s.
2. For images we had to search on google for it
was the only browser responding to Augusta
Savage without brining is to her art work. In
google we found many early images of Ms.
Savage and relevant pictures to put on our
presentation.