Gamin

Augusta Savage was an influential Black sculptor in the early 20^th century. She challenged racism through the depiction of Black people and the barrier of Black art, though few of her sculptures remain today. A leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, she was an influential activist and arts educator. She was born in the deep South, Floria, in 1892, just below the Black Belt. Augusta Savage started to create art as a young child, using the clay that naturally occurred in her hometown. Later, after attending Cooper Union in New York City, her artwork gained more viewership and she was granted a fellowship to study outside the US. She returned and then served as a director for the Harlem Community Center. In 1939, she created “The Harp”, an incredible sculpture for the New York World Fair.

Created early in her career, “Gamin” was a small sculpture that gave her that push in popularity to win the scholarship to travel to Europe. While some sources suggest that the sculpture was inspired by Augusta Savage’s interaction with a young boy experiencing homelessness, other sources have said that it was based on Ellis Ford, Augusta Savage’s nephew. In French, gamin means street child and the appearance of the child (wrinkled and worn shirt and street cap) seem to indicate impoverishment. The gaze of the child has been said to be wiser than his young age, which some says suggests hardship of poverty while other suggest it to be a reflection of the hardships of racism. Savage’s work suggests a new way of viewing Blackness as being both worthy of beautiful presentation and preservation.