Description
Discuss the art and life of Selma Burke her experience as a woman African american artist and sculptor during the civil rights era and the Harlem Renaissance. Discuss in dept the following pieces and how they tie into her experience being working in the United States and overseas in Europe.
- Bust of Mary McLeod Bethune (Honoring civil rights activists)
- Frau Keller (German Jew) created while In Europe expression of her experience during WWII
- John Brown (abolitionist) created during Harlem renaissance area influenced by relationship with McKay and her role in the Harlem Renaissance
Use Scholarly sources and MLA citation forma, Include images of the works listed above
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Surname 1
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Selected Works of Selma Burke And Her Life as Reflected in Them
Selma Burke was one of the 10 children of Neal Burke and Mary Jackson Burke. She
attended Winston Salem University for her educational training and later attended St. Agnes
Training School from which she graduated as a registered nurse in 1924 (Heller and Heller,
p.99). After graduation, she moved to New York City and worked as a nurse in the private
sector. It was while in New York that she got interested, and focused on her artistic self. During
this time, she also got married to Claude McKay, who was a writer in the field of Harlem
Renaissance, and she got interested as well in the Harlem Renaissance. She even worked for the
Harlem Artists Guild and the Works Progress Administration. In the 1930’s she honed her art
skills as she traveled across the European continent. She honed her skills under artists such as
Aristide Maillol of France and Povolney of Austria. She later opened the Selma Burke schools of
arts in the 1940s in New York and later graduated from Columbia University with a Master of
Fine Arts degree. Among her prices of art are famous ones such as Bust of Mary McLeod
Bethune, Frau Keller, and John Brown. Through the analysis of these works, her journey as an
African American woman artist, and sculptor during the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights
era can be deduced, which is the subject matter of this paper.
Burke sculpted Bust of Mary McLeod Bethune to honor the civil rights activists. The
sculpture portrays a stern looking Bethune and depicts serious...
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