Birth of the Spirituals
Artist:
Richmond Barthé
(American, 1901 - 1989)
Place made:United States
Date: 1941
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions:
h. 14 in. (35.6 cm); w. 13 1/8 in. (33.3 cm); d. 7 in. (17.8 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the Lillie and Roy Cullen Endowment Fund
Object number: 96.39
Inscribed: Inscribed on back at base of shoulder blade, "2/10" and "© 86/Barthe"
Label Text
This 1941 bronze sculpture by prominent Harlem Renaissance sculptor Richmond Barthé was a model for a memorial to writer and activist James Weldon Johnson. Barthé was brought on to design the memorial, intended for New York City’s Central Park. Likely inspired by Johnson’s poem “O Black and Unknown Bards,” Barthé envisioned the memorial as a nude Black man singing. Although the memorial was never actually realized, the bust in our galleries is a powerful fragment of Barthé’s vision.
James Weldon Johnson also wrote the 1900 poem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”—today known as the Black National Anthem. The song is a call to action performed in schools, protests, and even Beyonce’s 2018 set at Coachella. The long fight for equality, across generations from Johnson’s to Barthé’s, continues to our own moment with social movements like Black Lives Matter.
(Yinshi Lerman-Tan, 2021)
James Weldon Johnson also wrote the 1900 poem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”—today known as the Black National Anthem. The song is a call to action performed in schools, protests, and even Beyonce’s 2018 set at Coachella. The long fight for equality, across generations from Johnson’s to Barthé’s, continues to our own moment with social movements like Black Lives Matter.
(Yinshi Lerman-Tan, 2021)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
