Episode 09: Sculpt to the Future - Augusta Savage - “The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing)”
A postcard of Augusta Savages piece, The Harp, for the 1939 New York World’s Fair
Stephanie Dueñas and Russell Shoemaker discuss Augusta Savage’s unstoppable ambition that knew no bounds. Despite racism, discrimination, and life’s hardships - she was undeterred from her mission which was to sculpt the way for the black artists of the future.
Her talent and courage culminated in her World’s Fair masterpiece, “The Harp”. Featuring her classic academic precision along with a refreshing quasi abstracting element - “The Harp” was and remains a piece like none other.
Our Art Pantry of the week is Plaster.
The 1939 World’s Fair featuring a rose gold Mussolini “robot,” The Great Migration, Jim Crow Laws, The Harlem Renaissance, phallic monuments, carrot and potato hats, a brief cameo by Basel Ricketbottom III; mudpies, and the introduction of the Art Slice Museum’s new Sculpture Garden.
The version of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” featured in this episode is by The Southern Sons
The song featured in this episode was Your Eyes Said We Were Never Coming Back by Kris Keogh. Consider supporting his work!
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View from one of many lagoons, New York World’s Fair 1939.
Carrot/Potato hat (Trylon/Perisphere inspired), New York World’s Fair 1939.
Aerial view of Manhattan, NYC. The World’s Fair Trylon and Perisphere visible in the upper right.
Augusta Savage carving a clay sculpture, date unknown.
Portrait bust of a baby in red clay, similar to what she sculpted as a child
A Black American family migrating North during the Great Migration (1916 -1970). Date unknown.
A young W.E.B. Dubois, a black activist and leader of the Harlem Community and supporter of Augusta Savage.
Augusta Savage (left) with her portrait bust of James Weldon Johnson, another Black Harlem activist/leader and supporter of Augusta Savage. c. 1920s
Augusta Savage’s Gamin, 1929, plaster with shoe polish patina
Portrait bust of student and artist Gwendolyn Knight, 1934-35. Bronze.
Typical racist image of Jim Crow, a popular minstrel caricature of the 19th and 20th centuries
2018 Prada keychain reminiscent of racist depictions of Black Americans, $550
The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing) in progress, 1937-1939
The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing) in progress, 1937-1939
The Harp Lift Every Voice and Sing) at the World’s Fair in the courtyard of the Contemporary Arts Building, 1939. Painted plaster.
Color image of The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing) at the World’s Fair in the courtyard of the Contemporary Arts Building, 1939.
Augusta Savage and her bronze sculpture, Realization.
Artists Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight (formerly Augusta Savage’s students)
