Film Screening: Searching for Augusta Savage

Searching for Augusta Savage

Sculptor Augusta Savage was one of the leading influencers of the Harlem Renaissance. She opened the first gallery in the U.S. dedicated to exhibiting Black art in 1939. Called a "race woman" and “Sculptress of the Negro People,” she was also among the first artists of her time period to center Black life and the Black body in her work. It was in fact because of her anti-racist activism and association with the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and other progressive causes that Savage was investigated by the FBI. She also founded organizations that provided free art education and training to over 2,500 people, and mentored and advocated for jobs for a generation venerated artists, including Romare Bearden, Gwendolyn Knight, Jacob Lawrence, Selma Burke, Norman Lewis, and Kenneth B. Clark. Savage was also the only Black artist and one of four women commissioned to create an exhibit for the 1939 World’s Fair.…