Realization with sculptor Augusta Savage
I want to blog about the sculpture “Realization” by African American sculptor Augusta Savage for two reasons: 1) It has affected me deeply and permanently, and I find myself haunted by its image for a number of reasons I hope to be able to explore. 2) It is very difficult to find information about it online.
In fact, it is difficult to find detailed information about Augusta Savage. There are several internet sites, but most of them appear to be reposting the same biography. There are significant gaps in her history, and especially about her later years. The only published biography I could locate turned out to be an illustrated children’s book.
In fact, it is difficult to find detailed information about Augusta Savage. There are several internet sites, but most of them appear to be reposting the same biography. There are significant gaps in her history, and especially about her later years. The only published biography I could locate turned out to be an illustrated children’s book.
In terms of the sculpture, I could only find one photograph. It turns up on several sites in various cropped, tinted, or photoshopped permutations—but always the same photo. All I could find out about it was that it was commissioned in 1938 by the Work Projects Administration of the New Deal. I couldn’t locate any information about the current ownership or whereabouts of the statue, or even if it still exists. Sadly, it seems that many of Savage’s sculptures have not survived, because she lacked resources during her lifetime to cast them more permanently in metal, and also because she destroyed much of her work.
What do we know about Savage? She was born in 1892 in Green Cove, Florida, and her childhood was fraught with terror and violence. Early on, she had discovered that she could shape the figures of animals from the clay near her home. Her father, a Methodist minister, considered these “graven images,” and he would stomp on them and then batter the little girl in his efforts to control her. Savage later said, “My father licked me four or five times a week, and almost whipped all the art out of me.”
What do we know about Savage? She was born in 1892 in Green Cove, Florida, and her childhood was fraught with terror and violence. Early on, she had discovered that she could shape the figures of animals from the clay near her home. Her father, a Methodist minister, considered these “graven images,” and he would stomp on them and then batter the little girl in his efforts to control her. Savage later said, “My father licked me four or five times a week, and almost whipped all the art out of me.”
Robert Lincoln Poston We know she married at fifteen and gave birth to a daughter within a year. Her husband died shortly after this, and she married again, divorcing the second husband before she was thirty. Leaving her daughter with her parents, she moved to New York in 1921 to study art at Cooper Union.
Around the time of her graduation, she was selected to attend a summer art program outside of Paris with a hundred other young American women. When it was discovered that she was African American, her application was refused by the French. A scandal ensued, but the decision was not revoked.
This same year, Savage married Robert Lincoln Poston, an associate of Marcus Garvey, the charismatic Jamaican radical who had founded the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Harlem in 1916. Garvey also founded the Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger line, and promoted the dream of using these Black-owned ships to return African Americans to their ancestral lands. Poston had been sent with a delegation to secure lands in Liberia for these settlements, but sadly, he died of pneumonia on his return voyage, just one year after marrying Savage. She was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance and sculpted busts of both W.E.B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey. Savage was one of the first artists in any genre to consistently work with black physiognomy.
Around the time of her graduation, she was selected to attend a summer art program outside of Paris with a hundred other young American women. When it was discovered that she was African American, her application was refused by the French. A scandal ensued, but the decision was not revoked.
This same year, Savage married Robert Lincoln Poston, an associate of Marcus Garvey, the charismatic Jamaican radical who had founded the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Harlem in 1916. Garvey also founded the Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger line, and promoted the dream of using these Black-owned ships to return African Americans to their ancestral lands. Poston had been sent with a delegation to secure lands in Liberia for these settlements, but sadly, he died of pneumonia on his return voyage, just one year after marrying Savage. She was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance and sculpted busts of both W.E.B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey. Savage was one of the first artists in any genre to consistently work with black physiognomy.
Savage working on The Harp In 1929 and 1931, Savage won fellowships to study in France. She also won a Carnegie fellowship for eight months of travel in Europe. Returning during the Depression, she founded the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts in Harlem, and five years later she was appointed the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center. She took a two-year leave-of-absence to work on a commissioned sculpture for the 1939 World’s Fair. This sculpture, The Harp, received much press, but was ultimately destroyed at the end of the fair. Savage found that during her leave-of-absence, she had been replaced at her job. She attempted to found another art center and a small gallery, but after a series of frustrations, she retired to the town of Saugerties in the Catskill Mountains of New York. About twenty years later, she returned to New York, to live with her daughter.
So that’s what we know through biography. There is another encyclopedia of knowledge encoded in Realization.
Unable to find anything Savage wrote or narrated about the piece, I am going to share my subjective response.
So that’s what we know through biography. There is another encyclopedia of knowledge encoded in Realization.
Unable to find anything Savage wrote or narrated about the piece, I am going to share my subjective response.
The Greek Slave First, it appears to be about enslavement. The title, in my understanding, refers to the moment when the last shreds of denial, distraction, or wishful thinking are stripped away, and these two are confronted with the absolute horror and helplessness of their situation. Because of the placement of the woman’s arms, it appears that her shirt or the top of her dress has been intentionally stripped away, and that she is attempting to protect herself.
The male could be either her son or her partner. In either case, he is posed in a position suggestive of a frightened child. This is a radical choice on the part of Savage.
Unquestionably, Savage was familiar with the sculpture The Greek Slave, by American sculptor Hiram Power. Completed in 1844, it went on to become one of the best-known and critically acclaimed artworks of the nineteenth century. Unlike Savage, Powers’ words about his creation have been preserved:
The male could be either her son or her partner. In either case, he is posed in a position suggestive of a frightened child. This is a radical choice on the part of Savage.
Unquestionably, Savage was familiar with the sculpture The Greek Slave, by American sculptor Hiram Power. Completed in 1844, it went on to become one of the best-known and critically acclaimed artworks of the nineteenth century. Unlike Savage, Powers’ words about his creation have been preserved:
"Her father and mother, and perhaps all her kindred, have been destroyed by her foes, and she alone preserved as a treasure too valuable to be thrown away. She is now among barbarian strangers, under the pressure of a full recollection of the calamitous events which have brought her to her present state; and she stands exposed to the gaze of the people she abhors, and awaits her fate with intense anxiety, tempered indeed by the support of her reliance upon the goodness of God. Gather all these afflictions together, and add to them the fortitude and resignation of a Christian, and no room will be left for shame."
When the statue went on international tour, the pamphet read: “It represents a being superior to suffering, and raised above degradation, by inward purity and force of character.”
When the statue went on international tour, the pamphet read: “It represents a being superior to suffering, and raised above degradation, by inward purity and force of character.”
Face of The Greek Slave In fact, the victim appears to be calm and complacent, and I suspect that the great popularity of the sculpture had more to do with its pornographic implications than with an abolitionist sentiment.
Without any knowledge of Savage's grandparents, one could reasonably conclude that, if they were in Florida in the mid-1860’s, they were most probably enslaved on a plantation. Savage’s work reflects a perspective that, in my eyes, is uniquely female and, unlike Powers’, deeply identified with the victims of enslavement. It is impossible to “pornographize” Realization. In fact, I find it difficult to imagine that anyone viewing the piece could do anything except empathize with the suffering represented in the figures. Also, it is important to remember that Savage's childhood was that of a captive, forced to endure multiple beatings every week.
Without any knowledge of Savage's grandparents, one could reasonably conclude that, if they were in Florida in the mid-1860’s, they were most probably enslaved on a plantation. Savage’s work reflects a perspective that, in my eyes, is uniquely female and, unlike Powers’, deeply identified with the victims of enslavement. It is impossible to “pornographize” Realization. In fact, I find it difficult to imagine that anyone viewing the piece could do anything except empathize with the suffering represented in the figures. Also, it is important to remember that Savage's childhood was that of a captive, forced to endure multiple beatings every week.
The widely publicized 2000 Yard Stare Trauma is difficult to depict in art, because trauma is about having to accept the unacceptable. One can depict the adjustment after acceptance (which Powers claimed he was doing), or one can depict the post-traumatic dissociation (The 2000 Yard Stare by war artist Tom Lea, a 1944 portrait of a Marine at the Battle of Peleliu)… but to capture that moment, that fragile and terrifying moment of utter freefall after denial is ripped away and before the mind can split or numb itself… that is the genius of Realization.
Emily Dickinson wrote, "After great pain, a formal feeling comes." There is no formal feeling in the moment that Savage is capturing. I try to imagine the work of creating this: conception, armature, models, drawings, calculations, grids, the clay- sculpting of thousands of tiny carvings and shapings. Savage probably spent two years on it—holding that moment, that nanosecond too fleeting for a camera to catch, that second when the bubble bursts, before it dissipates.
This photograph is itself a work of art. The creator is part of the grouping. She is touching the shoulder and the foot of the male victim, putting herself into the work. Savage's face says, “I bear witness.” I cannot imagine the fortitude it took to create this piece. The world that celebrates The Pietà and The Greek Slave will never be able to look this work in the face. It should rank as one of the great sculptures of the world.
I wrote this blog to say, “I see you, Augusta Savage. I see what you have done. I will live with the impact of this work for the rest of my life. You have given me and the world a great gift, and I know it came at incalculable cost to yourself. Thank you.”
This photograph is itself a work of art. The creator is part of the grouping. She is touching the shoulder and the foot of the male victim, putting herself into the work. Savage's face says, “I bear witness.” I cannot imagine the fortitude it took to create this piece. The world that celebrates The Pietà and The Greek Slave will never be able to look this work in the face. It should rank as one of the great sculptures of the world.
I wrote this blog to say, “I see you, Augusta Savage. I see what you have done. I will live with the impact of this work for the rest of my life. You have given me and the world a great gift, and I know it came at incalculable cost to yourself. Thank you.”
Augusta Savage
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