In this dynamic rendering of a musical partnership, Augusta Savage celebrated everyday people in her local community of Harlem. The two sculptures aesthetically respond to one another: the musician twists at the waist, throwing back his shoulders and head and lifting his wind instrument high in the air. The dancer likewise leans off his vertical axis, his arms bent close to the body, full of kinetic energy.<\/p>\n
Savage was an influential sculptor, teacher, and intellectual leader. Determined from childhood to become an artist, she moved from Florida to New York in 1921 and studied at the Cooper Union. Two years later she won a scholarship to train in France\u2014an offer later rescinded because she was black. Savage would go on to found her own school and also lead the Harlem Community Art Center.<\/p>\n","short_description":"In this dynamic rendering of a musical partnership, Augusta Savage celebrated everyday people in her local community of Harlem. The two sculptures aesthetically respond to one another: the musician twists at the waist, throwing back his shoulders and head and lifting his wind instrument high in the air, while the dancer likewise leans off his vertical axis, his arms bent close to his body, full of kinetic energy.","dimensions":"Musician: 34.3 \u00d7 15.2 \u00d7 15.2 cm (13 1\/2 \u00d7 6 \u00d7 6 in.); Dancer: 39.4 \u00d7 15.2 \u00d7 15.2 cm (15 1\/2 \u00d7 6 \u00d7 6 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":15,"width":15,"height":34,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Musician"},{"depth":15,"width":15,"height":39,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Dancer"}],"medium_display":"Painted plaster","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Roger and J. Peter McCormick Endowment Fund","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":null,"exhibition_history":null,"provenance_text":"William Struna, Washington, DC, and Shepherdstown, West Virginia, c. 1975; sold, Black Art Auction, Indianapolis, Feb. 6, 2021, lot 1, to the Art Institute of Chicago.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":2021,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":false,"max_zoom_window_size":843,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":9.3688,"color":{"h":38,"l":69,"s":29,"percentage":2.8120319592493825e-6,"population":2},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Sculpture","artwork_type_id":3,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":57360,"artist_title":"Augusta Savage","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[57360],"artist_titles":["Augusta Savage"],"category_ids":["PC-3","PC-142","PC-830","PC-825","PC-835"],"category_titles":["Arts of the Americas","African American artists","African Diaspora","Women artists","2020\u201321 acquisitions by BIPOC artists"],"term_titles":["music","Modernism","casting (process)","plaster","modern","musicians","jazz","dancing","dancers","dance","African American","harlem renaissance","20th Century","sculpture techniques","sculpting","plastering","painting","paint"],"style_id":"TM-5981","style_title":"Modernism","alt_style_ids":["TM-7026","TM-13130"],"style_ids":["TM-5981","TM-7026","TM-13130"],"style_titles":["Modernism","harlem renaissance","20th Century"],"classification_id":"TM-14633","classification_title":"modern","alt_classification_ids":[],"classification_ids":["TM-14633"],"classification_titles":["modern"],"subject_id":"TM-8906","alt_subject_ids":["TM-8801","TM-14213","TM-12142","TM-10119","TM-14180","TM-12272"],"subject_ids":["TM-8906","TM-8801","TM-14213","TM-12142","TM-10119","TM-14180","TM-12272"],"subject_titles":["music","musicians","jazz","dancing","dancers","dance","African American"],"material_id":"TM-2439","alt_material_ids":["TM-2577"],"material_ids":["TM-2439","TM-2577"],"material_titles":["plaster","paint"],"technique_id":"TM-3881","alt_technique_ids":["TM-4053","TM-12999","TM-4006","TM-14210"],"technique_ids":["TM-3881","TM-4053","TM-12999","TM-4006","TM-14210"],"technique_titles":["casting (process)","sculpture techniques","sculpting","plastering","painting"],"theme_titles":["African American artists","African Diaspora","Women artists","2020\u201321 acquisitions by BIPOC artists"],"image_id":"69035b5d-de97-c1cb-30c5-dd1332555bb8","alt_image_ids":["9e5b5fff-e789-5b1e-1387-ccb7c6acbe8d","b4109820-e9d7-f713-551b-2c941b122468","e84b78ff-ad88-458c-c208-875f0c81619a","637ae04f-8e8c-b378-1af4-7ff94ab3d2b0"],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["2021.29a-b"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Musician and Dancer"],"weight":1,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-05T16:34:27-05:00","updated_at":"2026-09-17T23:19:52-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-19T02:14:54-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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