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AUGUSTA SAVAGE (1892 - 1962)
Lift Every Voice and Sing
.
White metal cast with black patina, circa 1939. Approximately 270x240x100 mm; 10
3
/
4
x9
1
/
2
x4
inches. Incised signature and “Worlds Fair 1939” at the base. Published by Augusta Savage Studios,
Inc., NewYork, with her printed paper label on the base.
Provenance: the estate of WilliamWatson Hines, III, NewYork.
A life-size version of
Lift Every Voice and Sing
was commissioned by the 1939 New York World’s
Fair committee in 1937.Augusta Savage left theWPA 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 number of these smaller, souvenir versions were cast.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, NewYork, where
she began to explore her interest in writing. In 1962, Savage returned to NewYork City and died
of cancer later that same year.
[5,000/7,000]