The Harp

"The Harp" by Augusta Savage (1939)

Augusta Savage, one of the 20th century's most influential female artists, was the only black woman to be commissioned to sculpt a piece for the World's Fair in 1939. The originally 16-foot-tall sculpture depicted a kneeling black man holding a bar of music and 12 Black chorus singers representing strings on a harp, the sounding board of which was no less than the hand of God. The piece—for which Savage was paid a mere $360—was intended to celebrate African Americans’ contributions to the music of the world

Although it represents the pinnacle of Savage's career and received astounding commentary, it was destroyed in 1940 alongside the closing of the fair due to Savage's inability as a struggling artist to amass the funds to cast it in bronze. 

The destruction of The Harp speaks to the larger tragedy of Savage’s work and how little of it survives today. It is estimated that of the approximately 160 documented works by Savage, about 70 have been lost, mostly because Savage never had the means or support to cast them in more durable material.

Despite the countless adversities she encountered through the stepping stones of her early career as a black female, she was impossible to deter from world recognition.  In 1923, she won a scholarship to study at the Fontainebleau School in Paris, an award that was revoked when the committee learned she was black. Savage persevered, and by 1937, she was a graduate of Cooper Union who had studied and exhibited in Paris, received commissions for busts of W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey, and founded the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts in New York, one of the centers of the Harlem Renaissance. 

Upon her death in 1962, her work still remains to carve the path for artist-activists and deserves long-overdue further examination and recognition for her work.

 Despite being a blueprint for what an artist hopes to achieve when centering humanity, she tells us she prefers her legacy to be the artwork of the children she taught rather than anything she made with her own hands.