JAMES RICHMOND BARTHE (known
as Richmond Barthé) was an African-American sculptor associated
with the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his portrayal of black
subjects. The focus of his artistic work was portraying the diversity and spirituality
of man. He once said: "All my life I have been interested in trying to
capture the spiritual quality I see and feel in people, and I feel that the
human figure as God made it, is the best means of expressing this spirit in
man."
He became
one of 20th century America’s
greatest sculptors of the human form, and Mississippi’s preeminent artist in the
field.
Richmond was born in Bay St.
Louis, Mississippi. His father died at age 22, when Richmond was only a
few months old, leaving his mother to raise him alone, working as a dressmaker.
Richmond showed a passion and skill for
drawing from an early age. His mother was, in many ways, instrumental in his
decision to pursue art as a vocation. He once said: "When I was crawling
on the floor, my mother gave me paper and pencil to play with. It kept me quiet
while she did her errands. At six years old I started painting. A lady my
mother sewed for gave me a set of watercolors. By that time, I could draw very
well."
His
teachers in grammar school encouraged him and when he was only twelve years
old, he exhibited his work at the Bay St. Louis Country Fair.
Richmond was beset with health
problems, and after an attack of typhoid fever at age 14, he withdrew
from school. Following this, he worked as a houseboy and handyman,
but still spent his free time drawing. A wealthy family, the Ponds, who spent
summers at Bay St. Louis, invited him to work for them as a houseboy in New Orleans.
Through his
employment with the Ponds, Richmond broadened
his cultural horizons and knowledge of art, and was introduced to Lyle
Saxon, a local writer for the Times Picayune. Saxon was fighting against
the racist system of school segregation, and tried unsuccessfully to get Richmond registered in an art school in New Orleans.
In 1924,Richmond donated
his first oil painting to a local Catholic church to be auctioned at a
fundraiser. Impressed by his talent, Reverend Harry F. Kane
encouraged him to pursue his artistic career and raised money for
him to undertake studies in fine art.
At age 23,
with less than a high school education and no formal training in art, Richmond applied to
the Art Institute of Chicago, and was accepted. He became one
of 20th century America’s
greatest sculptors of the human form, and Mississippi’s preeminent artist in the field.
While many young artists found it very
difficult to earn a living from their art during the
Great
Depression, the 1930s were
Richmond
‘s most prolific years.
The
shift from the Art Institute of Chicago to
New York City, where he moved following
graduation, exposed him to new experiences.
He established his studio in Harlem in 1930
after winning the
Julius Rosenwald Fund fellowship at his
first solo exhibition in
Chicago.
Richmond mingled with the bohemian circles of downtown Manhattan. Initially
unable to afford live models, he sought and found inspiration from on-stage
performers. Living downtown provided him the opportunity to socialize not only
among collectors but also among artists, dance performers, and actors. His
remarkable visual memory permitted him to work without models, producing
numerous representations of the human body in movement.
His works
were exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. In summer
1934, Richmond went on a tour to Paris with Reverend Edward F. Murphy, a friend of Reverend
Kane from New Orleans,
who exchanged his first class ticket for two third-class tickets to share with Richmond.
This trip exposed him to classical art,
but also to performers such as Josephine
Baker, of whom he made portraits in 1935 and 1951.
During the
next two decades, he built his reputation as a sculptor. He was awarded several
awards and experienced success after success and was considered by writers and
critics as one of the leading "moderns" of his time.
In 1945, Richmond became a member
of the National Sculpture Society. The tense environment and violence of the city
began to take its toll, and he decided to abandon his life of fame and move to Jamaica in the West Indies
in 1947.
His career flourished in Jamaica, and he remained there
until the mid-1960s when ever-growing violence forced him to move again.
For
the next five years, he lived in Switzerland,
Spain, and Italy, then settled in Pasadena, California
in a rental apartment. In this apartment, Richmond worked on his memoirs, and
most importantly, editioned many of his works with the financial assistance of
actor James Garner until his death in 1989.
Garner copyrighted Richmond’s
artwork, hired a biographer to organize and document his work, and established
the Richmond Barthe Trust.Richmond was a devoted Catholic. Many of his
later works depicted religious subjects,
including John the Baptist (1942), Come Unto Me (1945), Head
of Jesus (1949), Angry Christ (1946), and Resurrection (1969).
Works like The Mother (1935) (see right), Mary (1945), or his
unfinished Crucifixion (ca. 1944) are noticeably influenced by the
interracial justice for what he was awarded the James J. Hoey Award by the
Catholic Interracial Council in 1945.
