Tag: Sculpture

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Fallen Through The Cracks Projects

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Tina Allen

Tina Allen, © Estate of Tina Allen. Source: The Museum of Uncut Funk.
Tina Allen, © Estate of Tina Allen. Source: The Museum of Uncut Funk.

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Tina Allen

Fallen Through The Cracks – Tina Allen

Tina Allen

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Tina Allen was born Tina Powell on December 9, 1949, in Hempstead, New York.  She was a sculptor known for her monuments to prominent African Americans. Her sculpture focused on writing black history in bronze and emphasizing the contributions and aspirations of the African Diaspora. She was 13 years old when she began sculpting. Instead of following the assignment to make an ashtray, she made a bust of Aristotle instead. 

His artistic endeavors often reflected his strong anti-war stance, as many works critiqued the Vietnam War and warfare in general. A pivotal moment in Joseph’s career was in 1968 when he, alongside Benny Andrews and others, established the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC). This coalition arose as a reaction to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Harlem on My Mind” exhibition, which notably excluded Black artists. Joseph emphasized the importance of Black Art being curated by individuals who deeply understood the Black experience.

Tina Allen, © Estate of Tina Allen. Source: The Museum of Uncut Funk.
Tina Allen, © Estate of Tina Allen. Source: The Museum of Uncut Funk.

One of her best-known works is a 13-foot bronze likeness of #AlexHaley, which was installed in the Haley Heritage Square Park in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1998. Her statue of #GeorgeWashingtonCarver is the focal point of the George Washington Carver Garden at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. Her 12-foot bronze monument to #SojournerTruth is displayed in Memorial Park Battle Creek, Michigan and the bust of #FrederickDouglass is on display at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; it was featured in a scene in the movie Akeelah and the Bee.

Allen also crafted a bronze medallion for the Women of Essence awards, which annually honor Black women of outstanding accomplishment and achievement. Tina Allen passed away on September 9, 2008, in Los Angeles, CA.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher, c. 1870, Wikipedia Commons.
Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher, c. 1870, Wikipedia Commons.

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Edmonia Lewis

Fallen Through The Cracks – Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Edmonia Lewis was born a free woman circa July 4, 1844, in Upstate New York. She was an American sculptor, of mixed African American and Native American heritage.  Lewis migrated to Boston in early 1864 to pursue her career as a sculptor. Her work was based in marble, focusing on incorporating themes relating to Black and Indigenous people of America in a Neoclassical-representation. One of her popular works, “Forever Free”, depicted a powerful image of a black man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery.

She rose to prominence in the United States during the #CivilWar and was inspired by the lives of abolitionists and Civil War heroes. Lewis spent most of her adult career in #Rome, where Italy’s less pronounced racism allowed increased opportunities for black artists. “I was practically driven to Rome in order to obtain the opportunities for art culture, and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color. The land of liberty had no room for a colored sculptor.” she quoted. 

Edmonia Lewis by Henry Rocher, c. 1870, Wikipedia Commons.
Edmonia Lewis, Hagar, 1875. ©Estate of Edmonia Lewis.
Edmonia Lewis, Hagar, 1875. ©Estate of Edmonia Lewis.

As a black artist, she had to be conscious of her stylistic choices, as her largely white audience often misread her work as self-portraiture. In order to avoid this, her female figures typically possess European features. A major highlight in her career was participating in the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in which she created the 3,015-pound marble sculpture titled The Death of Cleopatra. Then in 1877, former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant commissioned her to do his portrait. Edmonia Lewis died on September 17, 1907 in London, England.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)

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Fallen Through The Cracks Projects

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage in her studio, © Estate of Augusta Savage
Augusta Savage in her studio, © Estate of Augusta Savage

Fallen Through The Cracks – Black Artists in History: Augusta Savage

Fallen Through The Cracks – Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage

#FallenThroughTheCracks – Augusta Savage was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on February 29, 1892. Her father was a poor Methodist minister who strongly opposed her early interest in art. During the mid-1920s when the #HarlemRenaissance was at its peak, Savage lived and worked in a small studio apartment where she earned a reputation as a portrait sculptor, completing busts of prominent personalities such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. She was one of the first artists who consistently dealt with black #physiognomy. 

Her best-known work of the 1920s was Gamin, an informal bust portrait of her nephew, for which she was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to study in Paris in 1929. In 1931, Savage won a second Rosenwald fellowship, which allowed her to remain in Paris for an additional year. In 1934 she became the first African-American member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. In 1937, she was appointed the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center and was one of four women and only two Black Americans to be commissioned by the New York World’s Fair of 1939 to create a sculpture symbolizing the musical contributions of African Americans. 

Augusta Savage, Gamin, 1929, © Estate of Augusta Savage, PAFA
Augusta Savage in her studio, © Estate of Augusta Savage

Savage created The Harp, inspired by the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson’s poem Lift Every Voice and Sing. The Harp was Savage’s largest work and her last major commission. Much of her work is in clay or plaster, as she could not often afford bronze. She launched the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts, located in a basement on West 143rd Street in Harlem, with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. She opened her studio to anyone who wanted to paint, draw, or sculpt. Her many young students included the future nationally known artists of Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Gwendolyn Knight. Savage died on March 26, 1962, following a long bout with cancer. Savage is remembered today as a great artist, activist, and arts educator.

(Text paraphrased from Wikipedia and other sources. All Images are the property of the copyright owners. This clip is for educational purposes.)