Becoming Barthé

Abstract

This chapter covers the decisive six years, in Chicago, when sculptor James Richmond Barthé (1901-1989) became an artist and a contributor to racial uplift. His faith in racial integration is reflected in work that merges European tradition with African American bodies. Barthé used the accessibility of naturalism to highlight the dynamism of blackness in his era. In 1927, The Negro in Art Week, Barthé’s professional debut, was organized by the Chicago Woman’s Club, the Chicago Art League and The Art Institute of Chicago. This exhibition introduced Barthé to his peers, competitors, African art, and his mentor Alain Locke. His figure, Tortured Negro, an unprecedented black male nude, was the first of Barthé’s many beautiful and coded sculptures. He invented himself and his art in Chicago.