AUGUSTA SAVAGE (1892 - 1962) Lift Every Voice and Sing.
White metal cast with copper patina, painted dark brown, circa 1939. Approximately 270x240x100 mm; 10 3/4x9 1/2x4 inches. Incised signature and "World's Fair 1939" at the base. Cast by Augusta Savage Studios, Inc., New York. Missing the small title plate which has been replaced by a bouquet of flowers.
Provenance: private Michigan collection
A life-size version of Lift Every Voice and Sing was commissioned by the 1939 New York World's Fair committee in 1937. Savage left the WPA to work on this monumental project, inspired by James Weldon and Rosamund Johnson's anthem, Lift Every Voice. Sadly, the original work was destroyed when the fair was over, but a few of these smaller, souvenir versions were cast by the artist. When the commission was finished, Savage was left unemployed and destitute--she was forced to give up her career as an artist. In the mid 1940s, Savage lived a reclusive life in Saugerties, NY, where she began to explore her interest in writing. In 1962, Savage returned to New York City, but died of cancer later that same year.
