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Treasures of The National Museum of African American History & Culture [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-04
The recent controversy over Trump's plan to remove items from the museum inspired me to find out more about what kinds of exhibits it offers.
There are so many amazing pieces at the museum. Here are just a few:
Above: a quilted and appliquéd textile portrait of Harriet Tubman by Bisa Butler, based on the carte-de-visite photograph portrait of Tubman by Benjamin F. Powelson (NMAAHC 2017.30.47).
Was interested to see if there were any sculptures by Augusta Savage, a sculptor I first learned about in:
"A Black Women's History of the United States." (*more on this book below).
There were no sculptures by her at this particular branch of the Smithsonian, but there was a photograph, taken in 1939, of one of her most well-known pieces, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which was commissioned for the 1939 New York World's Fair.
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Black and white photograph of artist Augusta Savage's 16-foot tall sculpture, "Lift Every Voice and Sing", inspired by the song by James Weldon and Rosamond Johnson from the 1939 New York World's Fair. The 16-foot-tall plaster sculpture was the most popular and most photographed work at the fair; small metal souvenir copies were sold, and many postcards of the piece were purchased. Savage did not have funds to have it cast in bronze, or to move and store it. Like other temporary installations, the sculpture was destroyed at the close of the fair. There was no funding available to remove and store the plaster sculpture at the end of the fair, or to cast the large piece in bronze as Savage had with other smaller works. The sculpture was destroyed along with other temporary works when the exhibition closed after its second season in 1940.
From: PBS’ “Searching for Augusta Savage” (including 21 min. documentary)”
Augusta Savage in her studio working on her 1939 New York World’s Fair monument “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Augusta Savage (1892-1962) became the only Black artist, and one of four women, commissioned to create an exhibit for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing, NY.
She took over a year to create a 16-foot sculpture, depicting a choir of 12 Black children singing, arranged like strings on a harp held up by the hand of God.
Savage opened the first gallery in the United States dedicated to the work of Black artists; mentored a generation of venerated artists, including Romare Bearden, Gwendolyn Knight, and Jacob Lawrence; and founded several organizations that provided free art education and training to over 2,500 people in Harlem, NY. She was also the first African American elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, later renamed the National Association of Women Artists.
A portrait of artist and jazz musician, José J. Williams, in watercolor on light green wove paper by Wadsworth Jarrell.
Wadsworth Jarrell was a founding member of AfriCOBRA, an influential collective of Black artists formed in 1968 on the South Side of Chicago. As a painter and photographer, he used vibrant colors to depict political activism and musical life in Chicago in the late 1960s and 70s. This is a double portrait of fellow Chicago artist José J. Williams.
*Denise recommended this book in her excellent diary Black Kos: #BlackWomensHistory. We will not be erased. She called it a “must read.” She was right----it’s an amazing piece of work, full of stories few have heard about. Very compelling. Thank you, Denise!
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