James Richmond Barthé

Richmond Barthé (1901-1989)

A renowned figurative sculptor of the Harlem Renaissance and the Paris Négritude movement, Barthé was influenced by dance and music and combined classical motifs with West African forms. He studied at SAIC and the Art Students League and exhibited with the Harmon Foundation, the Met’s Artists for Victory (1942), and Whitney and PAFA annuals (1933-44). Barthé made his first trip to Paris in 1934, but also received Rosenwald (1929-30) and Guggenheim Fellowships (1940-41) to travel abroad and a 1937 U.S. Treasury Dept. mural commission for the Harlem River Housing Project. He moved to Jamaica in 1951, returning to Pasadena, California in the 1960s.

Important Source Material:

Samella Lewis. Barthe: His Life in Art. Los Angeles: Unity Works, in collaboration with The Museum of African American Art, 2009.

Margaret Rose Vendryes. Barthe: A Life in Sculpture. University Press of Mississippi, 2008.

NHS