A biography written in free verse and concrete poems details the life and work of Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage, best known for creating The Harp for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Born Augusta Fells in Florida in 1982, Augusta had a difficult childhood. Her father tried to beat the artist out of her when he caught her making clay figurines in the backyard, claiming they were “graven images” that offended God. Augusta bore a child when she was still a child herself, only 15; her first husband died soon afterward. She pursued her creative interests in art school in New York City, but the scholarship she was offered to study art in France was rescinded when the selection committee learned that she was Black. But her work—sculptures that stunningly depicted Black life and culture—brought her recognition, and she opened the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem Community Art Center. She took a year off to create her masterpiece, The Harp (“Could I sculpt black love triumphant as a black harp? / How? Twelve strings? And each harp string a child? / Each child individual, a recognizable singing self”). Though it was hugely popular at the Fair, Augusta could not afford to cast the sculpture in bronze to preserve it, and so it was destroyed. This beautifully written account includes ample photographs of Augusta and her incredible art.

(Age 12 and older)

This powerful biography in poems​ tells the life of Augusta Savage, the trailblazing artist and pillar of the Harlem Renaissance.

A Claudia Lewis Award Winner for Poetry by the Bank Street College of Education 
A Black Caucus ALA Children & Young Adult Award Winner 
A CCBC Children’s Choice • A CBC Teacher Favorite

Augusta Savage was arguably the most influential American artist of the 1930s. A gifted sculptor, Savage was commissioned to create a portrait bust of W.E.B. Du Bois for the New York Public Library. She flourished during the Harlem Renaissance, and became a teacher to an entire generation of African American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, and would go on to be nationally recognized as one of the featured artists at the 1939 World’s Fair. She was the first-ever recorded Black gallerist. After being denied an artists’ fellowship abroad on the basis of race, Augusta Savage worked to advance equal rights in the arts. And yet popular history has forgotten her name. 
 
Deftly written and brimming with photographs of Savage’s stunning sculpture, this is an important portrait of an exceptional artist who, despite the limitations she faced, was compelled to forge a life through art and creativity. 
 
Features an afterword by the curator of the Art & Artifacts Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Horn Book • Kirkus Reviews • School Library Journal • Bank Street College
 
★ "A stunning portrait of artistic genius and Black history in America." —Booklist, starred review
 
★ "A wonderful addition to young people’s literature on African American artists." —Horn Book, starred review
 
★ "In a rich biography in verse, Nelson (A is for Oboe) gives voice to the Black sculptor Augusta Savage (1892-1962), a key Harlem Renaissance figure." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
★ "Nelson’s arresting poetry, which is accompanied by photographs of Savage’s work, dazzles as it experiments with form. … A lyrical biography from a master of the craft." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 
★ "A master poet breathes life and color into this portrait of a ­historically significant sculptor and her remarkable story." —School Library Journal, starred review