Augusta Savage
SCULPTOR (1892 - 1962)
Born 1892, Augusta Savage was an American
educator and sculptor who battled against
racism to secure a place for African American
women in the art world. During 1923, Savage
became the face of a racial scandal involving
the American arts community and the French
government. She was selected to attend a
summer program at Fontainebleau, Paris, but
was later refused due to her race. In 1934 she
became the first African American elected to
the National Association of Women Painters
and Sculptors. Savage's works weren't cast
using durable materials, mostly due to cost,
so few have survived, although one of her
best-known pieces, 'Gamin', is on permanent
display in the Smithsonian. While Savage was
mostly forgotten as an artist when she died in
1962, she stands today as a testament to the
relationship between art and activism.
Claude Lalanne
PRODUCT DESIGNER (1925 - 2019)
Born in 1924, Claude Lalanne was a French
sculptor and designer, closely linked to the
duo Les Lalanne, formed with her husband.
The duo had a poetical and dreamlike
universe, inspired by the vegetal and animal
worlds which built the foundation of their
sculptural works. Her mother was a musician,
and her father involved with metal works, both
influencing Lalanne's work. Lalanne studied at
the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and then
architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
Paris. She attended drawing classes at the
Atelier de la Grande Chaumiere and learned
sculpture. The techniques of impression,
moulding, and electroplating heavily inspired
her works. Plants and the human body were
also motifs within her art.
25