Sculpting a Strength into a Weakness

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Augusta Savage, originally known as Augusta Christine Fells, is a woman of the Harlem Renaissance that is known for her great creativity as a sculptor and her legacy of educating a new age group of black artists. Savage has faced her challenges as an artist, but eventually overcame them with the support of the African American community. The strength Savage used for her talent to create artwork eventually became the reason for her downfall as an artist.

Augusta Savage was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida where the main industry was bricks. Several clay pits were located nearby because clay was essential to brick making (Jordan 42). At an early age, Savage learned how to produce figurines from the red-clay soil in the clay pits. She liked to mold things such as animals and other small statures. But her father, a Methodist minister, did not allow of this pursuit, and did whatever he could to stop her. Savage once said that her father "almost licked all the art out of me" (Jordan 42). Despite her father's opposition, Savage continued to build carvings. In 1915, when the family relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida, Savage came across a new challenge—being short of clay. Savage eventually got some modeling clay from a local potter and created a group of figurines that she entered in a local county fair. Her work was well received, winning a prize of $175 and the support of the fair superintendent, George Graham Currie (Jordan 42). He persuaded her to study art. She moved to Jacksonville, Florida, hoping to make a living by executing commissioned busts of the city’s well-to-do African Americans. After an unsuccessful effort to establish herself as a sculptor, Savage moved to New York City in the 1920s.

Moving to New ...

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