Characterized as both an “aesthetic conservative”1 and a fervent activist by several contemporary art historians, Augusta Savage (1892-1962) is widely-considered one of the earliest Black American women artists to achieve national and international acclaim. In spite of her significant contributions to the field of visual arts – particularly sculpture – Savage’s practice and overall output remains largely under researched; one estimate proposed by art historian Theresa Leininger-Miller suggests that Savage only produced approximately seventy objects in her lifetime.2 A master sculptor, Savage primarily utilized plaster and clay, in large part due to persistent financial constraints throughout her lifetime.3

The John and Susan Horseman Collection’s Gamin (c. 1930) is one of several plaster versions of a bronze bust of the same name, and is the artwork with which the artist is perhaps best associated. Several scholars have suggested that the bronze Gamin (housed today at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, NYPL) enabled Savage to be awarded a prestigious Rosenwald Fellowship, an entity which provided many Black visual artists with funding to attend the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, France. One of several preeminent art schools in the French capital, the Académie was frequented by other Black American visual artists throughout the twentieth century, such as Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948), Herbert Gentry (1919-2003) and Ed Clark (1926-2019).

Purportedly modeled after her nephew Ellis Ford,4 Gamin embodies Savage’s longstanding commitment to portraying Black subjects as both empathetic and realistic. At a time when depictions of Black people in the United States and worldwide were overwhelmingly negative, Gamin humanizes young African Americans and the continued struggle for equality. Increasingly visible by the end of the nineteenth century, the archetypal gamin – or “street urchin” – is frequently associated with the rapid emergence of modernity in Europe and, more broadly, the Global North.5 Perhaps inspired by the common trope within European art of the period, Savage combined this with her lived experience as a Black artist in the apartheid United States to create this counter-stereotypical Black figure.

Within her oeuvre, Savage’s sculptures ranged from portrayals of Black intellectuals and elites to generalized themes and allegories. Notably, not all of her work legibly spoke to the “Negro problem,”6 or the precarious status of Black people in American society. Arguably her most monumental work both in scale and impact, the 16 foot plaster sculpture Every Voice and Sing (Harp) (1939) was the only construction by a Black American women artist for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The work was ultimately destroyed at the Fair’s close, alongside other temporary installations that lacked both sufficient storage and prioritization for preservation on the part of the Fair. While the original version of the sculpture exhibited at the World’s Fair no longer exists, miniature maquettes of the work – cast by the artist as souvenirs in metal with gold or white finishes – can be found in several public and private collections in the United States.

Occupying social circles that included the likes of Black luminaries such as the Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), American writer James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), Savage exemplified an entrepreneurial spirit: in her lifetime, she opened and ran the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts in Harlem; became director of the Harlem Community Art Center; founded the Harlem Artist’s Guild; and launched a short-lived gallery called the Salon of Contemporary Negro Art.7 Savage’s path echoed that of many other Black women artists of the period, and the lack of sales, formal gallery representation, exhibition opportunities and various personal issues resulted in her ultimately pivoting to a career in teaching: in the 1940s, Savage moved to the Catskill Mountains, where she continued her practice, but primarily spent time teaching art to children. While she was initially focused on her own career at the start, she came to enjoy her role as a mentor and teacher, stating later in her life: “I’ve 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. No one could ask for more than that.”8 In spite of Savage’s “pioneer” status to so many artists who succeeded her – such as students and celebrated artists Gwendolyn Knight (1913-2005), Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) and Norman Lewis (1909-1979) – she died from cancer in New York City in the early 1960s in relative obscurity by the standards of the mainstream art world.9

Heather Nickels