Remembering Richmond Barthé

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http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Art/Remembering_Richmond_Barthe/



Richmond “Jimmie” Barthé (1909-1989) was an African-American sculptor and a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s. That he was also a gay man who expressed his orientation in his work is most likely why he fell into obscurity by the 1940s.

Much of his art depicted African-American men in sensual poses, often nude. Today, his work seems not that confrontational, but in a basically racist, sexually nervous America of the middle of the last century, it is remarkable that his work received the acclaim that it did.

Barthé was born to Creole parents in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and his art brought him out of poverty. A beautiful, bright boy, he was already winning awards for his drawings by the age of 12. Inspired by the neoclassical art he saw in the homes of the wealthy folks he worked for as a houseboy in New Orleans, he developed a lifelong interest in Greek and Roman mythology.

Funded by his local church, he attended school at the Art Institute of Chicago and began to have adult affairs with men who sometimes became patrons. He also had a brief affair with author and actor Richard Bruce Nugent, who was a cast member in Dubose Heyward's play Porgy.


African Man Dancing, 1937; Stevedore, 1937; Inner Music, 1965

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1. Just Beautiful Artwork

Thanks for posting. I'd never heard of him but now I'll seek out his works.

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2. i love his stuff -- but you don't get to see it very often. nt