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Gamin
Augusta Savageca. 1930
Dixon Gallery and Gardens
Memphis, United States
Details
- Title: Gamin
- Creator: Augusta Savage
- Creator Lifespan: 1892 - 1962
- Creator Nationality: American
- Creator Gender: Female
- Creator Death Place: New York, New York, USA
- Creator Birth Place: Green Cove Springs, Florida, USA
- Date: ca. 1930
- Physical Dimensions: 9 inches
- Description: Augusta Savage was born in a small town near Jacksonville, Florida in 1892. She started modeling clay while still in her teens, and her early sculptures enjoyed enough success that she moved to New York in 1921 to study at Cooper Union. There she quickly became a fixture in Harlem art circles in the 1920s and 1930s, perhaps one of the most creatively vital times and places in all of American history. She would become a teacher and mentor to some of the most important African-American artists of the postwar era. Savage produced the first version of Gamin, a likeness of her nephew Ellis Ford, in 1929. She continued to make plaster casts of the work into 1930; it is unclear how many she completed or the number which survive. In Gamin, Savage captures an arrested moment, a sense of true immediacy; the child's glance feels natural and uncontrived. While the identity of the subject is known, Gamin was conceived as a type rather than a portrait, representing one of the many urchins populating New York streets. With his cap turned to the side and his savvy gaze, this clever gamin would have been instantly recognizable to New Yorkers. Gamin was a breakthrough work for Augusta Savage in 1929. On the strength of this particular sculpture, art patrons in New York contributed to the expense of sending her to Europe for additional study.
- Provenance: Museum purchase
- Type: Plasters
- Rights: Dixon Gallery and Gardens. For Terms and Conditions for use of this image please contact the Registrar at 901-761-5250.
- Medium: Plaster
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