Black Women Artists in America

Black Women Artists

This year we have the privilege of relating the stories of some very remarkable Black American Women. In these few months we can only touch on a few. I hope that this will encourage you to find and read more stories. 

We are focusing on black American female “firsts”. We have talked about outstanding women in education. Then we related the stories of Black Female writers – Sojourner Truth (19th century) and Phillis Wheatley, (18th century). For the nineteenth century we looked at the stories of three more “firsts” – Harriet Wilson, first published author of a novel, Hannah Crafts, only known narrative written by a female fugitive slave, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, first female to teach at Union Seminary.

Many of these women have been forgotten. I am happy to bring the stories of their lives back for us to appreciate. One thing the three women in this week’s stories have in common- they were forgotten even in their own lifetimes. Their work was not recognized for its greatness. Now at last there are plenty of publications with their stories, and plenty of pictures of their work on the internet and we can give them the honor they deserve for their talents.

There have been hundreds of great black female artists. Of special note this week are three black female artists who fit into the category of “firsts” – Edmonia Lewis, sculptor (nineteenth century), Augusta Fells Savage, contributed to a World’s Fair (1892-1962), and Ann Lowe, first black woman in fashion design (1898-1981). 

Because we are talking about art and because their creations were underappreciated in their day, I will give a brief account of their lives and then post pictures of their amazing works. Many of these works are now in museums.

Edmonia Lewis “Wildfire” – Sculptor (1845-1907)

Edmonia Lewis was a double first as an accomplished female sculptor. She had both black and Native American heritage. Her father was a black man employed as a gentleman’s servant and her mother was a Chippewa Indian^[1]. Apparently, it was her mother who named her “Wildfire”. Edmonia did not spend much time with her father. Instead, she lived with her mother’s tribe in New York state until she was orphaned at age 5. She continued to live with the Chippewas until she was 12. She learned to fish, make baskets, and embroider moccasins, selling her crafts to the tribe. 

Her brother “Sunrise” had left to mine gold in California. He had enough money to send her to school near Albany, New York. Then in 1859, “Wildfire” entered Oberlin College in Ohio and changed her name to Mary Edmonia Lewis. She preferred using her middle name throughout her life.

Although Oberlin promoted racial harmony, Edmonia became the center of a controversial incident. Two white women students accused her of poisoning them; subsequently some vigilantes attacked and beat her. A prominent lawyer, also of mixed black and Native American heritage defended her. She was exonerated. A year later she was accused of being a thief. Again, she was acquitted, but the college refused to let her graduate.

With her brother’s encouragement and financial support, Edmonia decided to move to Boston. There she met William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists. She also became acquainted with Edward Brackett, a famous portrait sculptor. Brackett became her mentor and helped her learn how to sculpt. He saw her talent and helped her set up her own studio. Soon Edmonia was establishing herself as a sculptor in Boston. She began to model portraits out of plaster and clay, many of which were anti-slavery leaders, or advocates for Native Americans. She made enough money to support herself from selling these portrait sculptures.

After living in Boston, Edmonia traveled to England, Paris, and Florence. Eventually she set up her studio in Rome. This may seem like an odd choice, but there was an abundant marble supply and women especially were drawn to the Romans’ disregard of the sexist restrictions in America and England.

In her large studio near the Piazza Barberini, Edmonia began to work on larger marble sculptures. She was able to support herself by copying famous sculptures which she sold to American tourists. She also continued to take commissions for small portrait busts. 

Edmonia is especially remembered today for her sculptures that reflect her concern over slavery and racial oppression. While her largest and most powerful sculpture – The Death of Cleopatra  – was popular, Edmonia wanted to focus on telling the stories of the problems of blacks and Native Americans using her artistic abilities. Below are just two examples of her sculptures of Native Americans and Blacks.

We don’t know much about the end of Edmonia’s life. Stories are contradictory or confusing at best. She converted to Catholicism while in Rome in 1868. Her last commission reflected her faith – Adoration of the Magi. This work, like many others, was lost. Today only a photograph of the 5-foot-wide sculpture exists.

Augusta Fells Savage, Sculptor (1892-1962)

Augusta Fells Savage overcame the obstacles of racial prejudice, poverty and personal tragedies to become one of the nation’s most distinguished black artists. 

She was born in Florida on February 29, 1892. Her birthplace, Green Cove Springs, was an area that had much natural clay in the soil. As a child, Augusta made it one of her favorite toys. “At the mud pie age, I began to make ‘things’ instead of mud pies,” she said.^[2] Unfortunately her father, a Methodist minister, disapproved. Later, when she was in high school, she sculpted an 18” statue of the Virgin Mary. Her father realized that she was talented, and he began to accept her work.

Augusta’s family moved to West Palm Beach around 1915 where there was no clay in the soil. She got her materials from a local potter. She fashioned some figures and entered them in a county fair. She won a prize, but more importantly she received the support of the fair’s superintendent, George Graham Currie. He encouraged her to study art even though in that day racial prejudice kept many black men and women out of college.

Augusta married three times. In 1907 she married John T. Moore and a year later she had a daughter, Irene. Augusta and Irene would remain close all their lives. John Moore died a few years later. Around 1915 she married James Savage, whom she divorced in the early 1920’s. She married again in October 1923 to a journalist, Robert L. Poston. He died in March 1924. 

Augusta’s art was not successful in Jacksonville, so she moved to New York. She got a job as an apartment caretaker and enrolled in Cooper Union where tuition was free. She studied with sculptor George Brewster. When she lost the apartment job, Cooper Union gave her a scholarship which met her living expenses. Within a few months word of her talent spread.

She did a portrait of W. E. B. DuBois, and it was so well received that other commissions followed including that of Marcus Garvey, a prominent black leader. Augusta was earning enough money now to support herself while she completed college. She finished the four-year course at Cooper Union in three years.

In 1923, the Palace of Fontainebleau announced a special summer program open to women artists. Augusta applied but was rejected because of her race. She went on a letter writing campaign which made headlines everywhere. The French group did not change their minds. However, one of the committee members, Herman MacNeil, admitted that he was ashamed of the ruling. He invited Augusta to work at his studio in Long Island and she accepted the offer.

Undeterred by the racial prejudice, Augusta continued to produce models and figures of ordinary people. Like Edmonia Lewis, Augusta was concerned with the plight of black people and her work reflects it. One of her most famous sculptors is entitled “Gamin”. She used a young boy from a street in Harlem as a model. It is said that in this “head made of clay” she “caught the vitality, the humanity, the tenderness, and the wisdom of a boy child who has lived in the streets.”^[3]

Augusta’s fame spread. She got the opportunity to study abroad. She went to Paris for several years where she exhibited work at the Grand Palais. She studied sculpture and woodcarving. She received fellowships from Rosenwald and from the Carnegie Foundation to travel to other European countries.

In 1939 she was commissioned to create a sculpture for the World’s Fair. She was one of only four women and the only black woman to be honored with this invitation. The theme of the fair was “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, a song known as the “Negro National Anthem.” Augusta created a large sculpture called The Harp. The sculpture is sixteen-feet-high and composed of black people of various sizes and ages. They lift their voices as the strings tapered from their heads to the base. A kneeling young black man offers the gift of music to the world. 

The sculpture was cast in plaster and finished in black basalt (bronze was too costly). It was destroyed after the fair was over, but there were photographs made and many castings were made out of pot metal for souvenirs. It became Augusta’s most popular work. Apparently, some of the figurines are still extant.

Augusta operated a Salon of Contemporary Negro Art for a time. It eventually closed due to lack of funds. She eventually moved to a farm in the Catskill Mountains where she continued to produce art. She made infrequent trips to New York City to visit friends. When her health began to fail, she returned to New York City to live with Irene who cared for her until her death from cancer on March 26, 1962.

We are thankful that Augusta Fells Savage left us her art as a legacy for black American culture. And I am sorry it took so long for it to be recognized. Thankfully, the culture is changing, wonderful works of art by female black Americans are again being discovered and valued.

Ann Lowe, Fashion Design (1898-1981)

“I want to prove that a Negro can become a major dress designer.”    Ann Lowe

Ann Lowe was the first black woman to design dresses for “haute couture”. That is French for “high sewing” or “high dressmaking”. These dresses were creatively and individually designed, mostly for the wealthy. Her unique dresses were made of what were novel materials such as flowers, beadwork, and jewels. Her most famous creation was First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding dress for her marriage to then Senator John F. Kennedy in 1953.

By 1953 Ann had been sewing for many years. She started sewing at the age of six, helping her mother and grandmother who were doing custom sewing mostly for wealthy white Southerners. When Ann was sixteen her mother died. Ann took over the family business. She completed the work on two orders for the governor’s wife. She then moved to Florida where she continued to sew for prominent families. 

In 1917 she enrolled in a course in New York City in “couture” but because of Jim Crow laws she faced challenges. Ann had to take her courses in a separate room from the white students who didn’t want her in the same room. She was so talented however that the instructors used her sketches and drawings for the other students as the examples of the best designs. Ann studied hard and finished the course a year early. 

In 1928 Ann moved to Harlem. She was commissioned by such famous stores as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Henri Bendel (The store was in business from 1895-2019). By 1950, Ann’s reputation for her work was well-known, and she was sought after by high society families. She opened her own salon, called Ann Lowe’s Gowns, for the Manhattan social elite. Her fashions began to appear in magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, and the Saturday Evening Post. Later Ann would be featured in the National Social Directory of 1966 and in a 1966 copy of Who’s Who of American Women. Ebony magazine did a six-page article on Ann in 1966. 

Sadly, though news traveled about this exquisite fashion designer so did the fact that Ann never charged enough for her gowns. It is unclear as to the reason why. Perhaps Ann felt like she just happy to see her gowns on so many famous and beautiful women. Others have suggested that in order to keep her position as a Black woman in society she allowed the wealthy patrons to take advantage of her. While other famous houses of fashion received invitations to high-profile events, Ann did not. 

Another slight (unforgiveable in my opinion) occurred at the Academy Awards in 1947. Olivia de Havilland wore an Ann Lowe gown when de Havilland received her Oscar for Best Actress in the film To Each His Own. Ms. De Havilland, like many of Ann’s clients removed the tag from the back of the dress with Ann’s name. Ann did not complain. She was more satisfied with her beautiful creations and the knowledge that famous people were wearing them than she was in making a profit. Her son was managing things for her and keeping the business going.

In 1958 Ann’s son died in a car accident. She had no one to keep her books. The materials for her gowns were very expensive and Ann never charged enough to recover the costs. Within a short time, she was in debt and declared bankruptcy in 1962. 

Tragically this wonderful, talented woman, like Edmonia Lewis and Augusta Savage, was forgotten in her own time. Today however you can see pictures of her creations on the internet. Also some of her gowns are on display at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Cincinnati Art Museum, and The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). 

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^[1] Here again, as an author, I have to decide what terms to use when speaking of the various racial groups. I will use the historical term that the sources are using to avoid confusion. When speaking of indigenous peoples, or tribes. I will use the terms “Indian” or “Native American” if that is the historical term. I have many friends who have tribal heritage that they are very proud of. I want to honor that, but I don’t think I should rewrite history.

^[2] “Augusta Savage: An Autobiography.” Crisis 36 (August 1929). P. 269.

^[3] Bearden, Romare, and Harry Henderson. “Augusta Savage.” Six Black Masters of American Art. New York: Doubleday, 1972. P. 90.