Richmond Barthé was born in 1901 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Barthé was raised by his mother, who supported the family on her needlework. Creativity and an appreciation for art was shared by Barthé who discovered his interest in art at a young age. There were few resources available to Barthé in his hometown, and at sixteen he left home to work for a wealthy family in New Orleans. The family’s collection of romantic and neoclassical artwork, and numerous art books in their library inspired Barthé and further encouraged his passion for art. In 1924, members of the community raised money for Barthé to attend the Art Institute of Chicago. Barthé’s interest shifted from painting to sculpture when he discovered his love for working with clay. In 1927, Barthé’s first sculptures were exhibited at the Negro in Art Week at the Art Institute.
Barthé received a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1928 and went to New York where he studied at the Art Students League. He settled in Harlem during the height of the cultural renaissance, joining a circle of artists, poets, and intellectuals such Alain Locke, Richard Bruce Nugent, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Lincoln Kirstein, Paul Cadmus, and Jared French.
Barthé’s work was well received in New York, earning critical and commercial recognition. From 1929-1931, Barthé’s sculptures were included in several group exhibitions at the Harmon Foundation for leading black artists. He received a solo exhibition at the Caz-Delbo Gallery in New York in 1931, and was featured again by the gallery in a group exhibition alongside works by Picasso, Manet, Delacroix, Matisse, and Pissarro. In 1932, the newly opened Whitney Museum of American Art acquired Barthé’s 1930 plaster of Blackberry Woman, and subsequently made two casts in bronze. The museum included African Dancer in 1933 at the First Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolors, and Prints. A solo exhibition of his works were shown at the museum in 1934. Another career achievement came in 1942, when The Boxer was acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, making him among the first black artists to enter the collection.
Major themes in Barthé’s realistic sculptures were race and homoeroticism. His subjects were influenced by the concept of “The New Negro,” which was advocated by the philosopher and writer Locke. His early works included numerous portrait busts that intimately portrayed the sitter’s emotions and expressiveness. He continued to sculpt full length black subjects, featuring dancers and everyday figures. Barthé became preoccupied by the male nude form, capturing their physique and dynamic movement in sculptures such as Feral Benga and the African Dancing Man.
The present work, Stevedore, is a large bronze depicting a powerful black laborer. The stevedore, or longshoreman, is balancing on an I-beam and holding onto a taut cable wire with one hand and a hat in the other. Barthé modeled the subject as a heroic and commanding figure, despite its reputation as a low ranking position. The laborious task of a stevedore involved loading and unloading cargo from ships, and was commonly filled by black men during World War I. The man’s physicality is emphasized by the chiseled abdominals and muscular arms, and the trousers that suggestively cling to his body.
Barthé scholar Margaret Rose Vendryes discusses the significance of a stevedore, “In 1937, a stevedore’s work required strength and endurance. He represents a ‘real’ man who worked with his hands. Barthé’s handsome and intimidating Stevedore invites readings that range from basic to theoretical and go well beyond race. As a worker whose long days garnered small wages, this figure represents the foundation of American industry. By the late 1930s, economic recovery was well under way, and many American artists (especially those employed by government programs) pictured the recovering nation through its working people. Manual laborers were especially popular subjects long favored by American artists.” (Margaret Rose Vendryes, Barthé: A Life in Sculpture, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008, p. 92)
Barthé enjoyed a successful career in New York, but left the city due to health issues. He moved to Jamaica where he completed several commissions, spent several years in Europe, and eventually settled in Pasadena, California where he passed away in 1989. During his sixty year career, Barthé received many prestigious awards, such as the Rosenwald and Guggenheim Fellowships, and today his work is included in numerous public and private collections.
Stevedore, conceived in 1937 and cast in 1986
Bronze
29 1/4″ h. x 16 5/6″ w. x 15″ d.
Overall with marble base: 30 1/2″ Signed Barthé ’37 and stamped ©”86 4/8 along the base
Estate of the Artist, California
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York
Private Collection, California, acquired from the above in 1995