The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 28, 2020

Gamin

c. 1929

Augusta Savage

(American, 1892-1962)

America, 20th century

Hand-painted plaster

Overall: 44.5 x 24.2 x 20.4 cm (17 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 8 1/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2003.40

Location

226B American Modern

Fun Fact

A trailblazer, Savage was the first African American member of the National Association of Women Artists.

Description

Savage was the most acclaimed sculptor working during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and ‘30s, and Gamin is her most famous work. It was long thought that the image was a generic figure; however, recent research reveals that it depicts her nephew. The warm characterization likely arises from the close bond shared between artist and model. Although several small versions of the sculpture were produced, this life-size, hand-painted plaster is unique, and likely the oldest surviving example of the subject.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed on right-side: "Savage"; titled across the bottom-front: "Gamin"

Citations
Cover of Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life. June 1929. Cover
"Une femme sculpteur noire." La Depeche Litteraire et Artistique (Aug/Sept. 1930) . Mentioned: p. 5
"Harlem's Community Center." Marcia Minor. Daily Worker, August 1, 1938.
Stromberg, Suzanne Schell. "Afro-American Art of the Harlem Renaissance." (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1973). Mentioned: p. 83
Leininger-Miller, Theresa A. New Negro Artists in Paris: African American Painters and Sculptors in the City of Light, 1922-1934. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Litt, Steven. "Art museum acquires top sculpture by Savage." Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 2, 2003. Mentioned: p. E1; Reproduced: p. E6
The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine (September 2003), cover. Cover
Robinson, William. "Renaissance Kid." The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine (October 2003) Mentioned: p. 6; Reproduced: p. 6
"Major Acquisitions 2000-2005." Cleveland Art 45 (July/August 2005) Mentioned: p. 14; Reproduced: p. 19
Rosenkranz, Conner. 19th & 20th Century American Sculpture. Smithsonian Libraries, 2007. Mentioned: p. 44; Reproduced: p. 61
Gordon, Margery. "Eyes on the Prizes." Art & Auction (February 2008) Mentioned: p. 117; Reproduced: p. 117
Cole, Mark. African American Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Mentioned: p. 3; Reproduced: p. 3, 20
Brown, Marilyn. The Gamin De Paris in Nineteenth-Century Visual Culture: Delacroix, Hugo, and the French Social Imaginary. New York : Routledge, 2017. Mentioned: p. 118-119; Reproduced: pl. 24.
Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/2003.40