Augusta Savage

Augusta Savage (1892-1962) was an American sculptor. She was active during the Harlem Renaissance, following her relocation from Florida to New York. She created small figurative portraits, some modeled on friends and family. In the late 1930s, she became the director of the Harlem Community Arts Center, a community artist organization that offered art classes for all ages. She struggled to raise money to cast her works in bronze, so many of her remaining works are plaster, painted to look like bronze busts.  Savage received her degree from Cooper Union in 1923.