SCULPTOR WHO SAW THE SPIRIT OF MAN

 

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.