SEARCHING FOR AUGUSTA SAVAGE is a 24-minute documentary about one of America’s greatest sculptors whose footprint in the art world appears to have been erased. Harlem Renaissance artist and educator Augusta Savage (1892-1962) was the first person in the U.S. to open a gallery dedicated to Black art and the first Black woman elected to the National Association of Women Artists. She was the only Black artist, and one of four women commissioned to create an exhibit for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing, New York. She also founded several organizations that provided free art education and training to 2,500 people. An arts activist, she mentored a generation of Black artists who are celebrated today, including Romare Bearden, Gwendolyn Knight, Jacob Lawrence, Selma Burke, and Norman Lewis, and advocated for their work to be exhibited in mainstream art venues.
This first documentary film about Savage’s life and legacy, SEARCHING FOR AUGUSTA SAVAGE investigates why nearly half of the approximately 160 pieces of sculpture she created, including four large monuments, are lost or missing today. The film is narrated by art historian Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D. a leading expert on Savage’s life and work, who curated the traveling exhibit and book, Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman; with award-winning actor Lorraine Toussaint (Orange is the New Black, The Glorias, The Equalizer) providing dramatic readings of the words of Augusta Savage. Savage's life has contemporary relevance, as a recent analysis of more than 40,000 works of art in the permanent collections of 18 major museums revealed that 85% of the artists exhibited in the most visited U.S. museums are white, and 87% are male. Just 0.5% of acquisitions were the work of Black women.
SEARCHING FOR AUGUSTA SAVAGE was released in 2024 as the lead film for American Masters Shorts, a new Webby award winning digital series from PBS’ flagship biography series, American Masters. The film is a production of Audacious Women, LLC in association with American Masters Pictures and Black Public Media. Funding was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; Heather L. Burns and Kathleen A. Maloy; Humanities New York; and Devin and Gina Mathews.
- Runtime24 minutes
- DirectorCharlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley
SEARCHING FOR AUGUSTA SAVAGE is a 24-minute documentary about one of America’s greatest sculptors whose footprint in the art world appears to have been erased. Harlem Renaissance artist and educator Augusta Savage (1892-1962) was the first person in the U.S. to open a gallery dedicated to Black art and the first Black woman elected to the National Association of Women Artists. She was the only Black artist, and one of four women commissioned to create an exhibit for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing, New York. She also founded several organizations that provided free art education and training to 2,500 people. An arts activist, she mentored a generation of Black artists who are celebrated today, including Romare Bearden, Gwendolyn Knight, Jacob Lawrence, Selma Burke, and Norman Lewis, and advocated for their work to be exhibited in mainstream art venues.
This first documentary film about Savage’s life and legacy, SEARCHING FOR AUGUSTA SAVAGE investigates why nearly half of the approximately 160 pieces of sculpture she created, including four large monuments, are lost or missing today. The film is narrated by art historian Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D. a leading expert on Savage’s life and work, who curated the traveling exhibit and book, Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman; with award-winning actor Lorraine Toussaint (Orange is the New Black, The Glorias, The Equalizer) providing dramatic readings of the words of Augusta Savage. Savage's life has contemporary relevance, as a recent analysis of more than 40,000 works of art in the permanent collections of 18 major museums revealed that 85% of the artists exhibited in the most visited U.S. museums are white, and 87% are male. Just 0.5% of acquisitions were the work of Black women.
SEARCHING FOR AUGUSTA SAVAGE was released in 2024 as the lead film for American Masters Shorts, a new Webby award winning digital series from PBS’ flagship biography series, American Masters. The film is a production of Audacious Women, LLC in association with American Masters Pictures and Black Public Media. Funding was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; Heather L. Burns and Kathleen A. Maloy; Humanities New York; and Devin and Gina Mathews.
- Runtime24 minutes
- DirectorCharlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley