James Richmond Barthé (or Richmond Barthé) is a renowned United States-based sculpturist known for his powerful depictions of Biblical imagery and Black performance. He also studied and depicted subjects of all backgrounds. While he never openly characterized his sexuality, Barthé’s broader work displays homoerotic themes and addresses concepts of race and aesthetics.

A living artist between January 1901 and March 1998, Barthé was born in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to a family of Roman Catholic Creoles and a New Orleans Family. At sixteen, he moved to New Orleans to work as a “houseboy” for a wealthy and prominent family. He studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1924 to 1928. He later discovered an interest in sculpture during his senior year. In 1929, Barthé relocated to Harlem and became a star figure during the Harlem Renaissance movement in New York City.

By the 1930s, Barthé joined a modern dance troupe at Martha Graham’s studio. His experience as a dancer shaped his creative expression. In A History of African-American Artists, other artists such as Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson note, “His figures of dancers, lyric portrayals of the body in motion, are among his best works, achieving their effects through linear qualities rather than volume and mass.” In 1931, Barthé relocated to a studio at 236 West 14th Street (façade since altered).

Barthé’s career expanded in 1931 with two shows in New York City, an exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists at the Harmon Foundation, February 16 -28, 1931. His work pushed depictions of Black Americans as they lived, for instance, in Boy with a Broom (1929) and The Comedian (1935). Barthé is recognized for his depictions of religious figures in history–such as Senegalese dancer “Féral” Benga (1935) and United States-born French dancer and singer Josephine Bake (circa 1951). In 1946, Barthé won an award in art from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Between the late 1940s and the early 1970s, Barthé lived in Jamaica before traveling between Italy, Switzerland, and Spain. Following the late 1970s, Barte experienced financial struggles. He befriended actor James Garner, who supported him in finances, copyright issues, and establishing the Richmond Barthé Trust. He returned to the United States in 1977 and lived in Pasadena, California, until 1998.

Notably, one of the most successful sculptors of the 20th century. Richmond Barthé crafted art that resonated with the residents and audiences alike.

Called initially Green Pastures: Walls of Jericho, but more commonly known as “the Wall,” Exodus and Dance is an eighty-foot frieze. James Richmond Barthé designed the right side of the frieze based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Green Pastures, a theatre piece about Black southern rural religion in the 1930s by Marc Connelly. The Green Pastures portray a set from the Old Testament. Art Deco and Black dancers inspired the left side of the frieze from David Wendell Guion’s 1929 ballet, Shingandi, which covers the right side.

During the Works Progress Administration era (1935 - 1943), sculptors were commissioned to create public art for the Harlem River House as part of the Federal Art Project. Pioneer John Louis Wilson Jr., one of the first Black architects registered in New York State, designed the public housing building in 1936-1937. Barthé was personally selected to design the frieze on the rear wall of an amphitheater that was never constructed. It is his largest work and his first in relief style. He completed the cast-stone frieze in 1939; however, there was no place for it. The frize remained in storage until it was installed without Barthé’s knowledge or approval at Kingsborough Houses in Brooklyn in 1941. While Kingsbrough Houses were public federal housing, Black Americans were not the majority of residents, and Barthé believed the power and inspiration for his work was lost. As a federal employee, Barthé had no control over his work.

Kingsborough Houses is one of two public housing buildings designed to be desegregated in New York City before 1945. Exodus and Dance remains a landmark artwork for over eight decades for art enthusiasts and residents who have lived at Kingsborough Houses. The frieze displays Black figures engaged in a collective dance that inspires the community around it.

Construction of the Kingsborough Houses finished in 1941. The landscape architect Gilmore Clarke designed the development's grounds in a style resembling a city park.

Shortly after, the Kingsborough Extension was finished in 1966 for senior citizens’ housing.

Amistad Research Center. “Barthé, Richmond, 1901-1989.” Accessed December 7, 2023. https://amistad-finding-aids.tulane.edu/agents/people/279.

Amon Carter Museum of American Art. “Richmond Barthé’s The Negro Looks Ahead Acquired by the Amon Carter Museum.” Accessed December 7, 2023. https://www.cartermuseum.org/press-release/richmond-barthe-negro-looks-ahead-acquired-carter-museum.

Curator, Samella Lewis, Ph.D. “Richmond Barthé: Harlem Renaissance Sculptor.” Richmond Barthé: Harlem Renaissance Sculptor, 2023. https://a-r-t.com/barthe/.

Richmond Barthé: African-American Sculptor (1901-1989), 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Z79gCYhttps://a-r-t.com/barthe/AEU.

Summers, Martin. “Richmond Barthé (1901-1988),” November 19, 2007. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/barthe-richmond-1901-1988/.

The Art Institute of Chicago. “Richmond Barthé,” 1901. https://www.artic.edu/artists/1678/richmond-barthe.

Sources:

Bearden, Romare, and Harry Henderson. A History of African-American Artists: From 1792 to the Present. 1st ed. Pantheon Books, 1993.

Evans, Curtis J. “The Religious and Racial Meanings of The Green Pastures.” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 18, no. 1 (2008): 59–93. https://doi.org/10.1525/rac.2008.18.1.59.

GLBTQ Archives. “Archived Arts Encyclopedia Entries: James, Richmond Barte.” Accessed November 28, 2023. http://www.glbtqarchive.com/artsindex.html.

NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. “Richmond Barthé & ‘Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho.’” Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/richmond-barthe-green-pastures-the-walls-of-jericho/.

Reaven, Marci, and Steven J. Zeitlin. Hidden New York : A Guide to Places That Matter. Rivergate Books, an imprint of Rutgers University Press, 2006.

“Restoring Historic Art at Kingsborough Houses - NYCHA Now,” February 1, 2021. https://nychanow.nyc/restoring-historic-art-at-kingsborough-houses/.

“Richmond Barthé (1901-1989) - Artists - Michael Rosenfeld Art.” Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/artists/richmond-barth-1901-1989/selected-works/1.

“Selected Works - Richmond Barthé (1901-1989) - Artists - Michael Rosenfeld Art.” Accessed November 29, 2023. https://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/artists/richmond-barth-1901-1989/selected-works/1#public-collections_21.

Swann Galleries News. “The Elegant Sculptures of Richmond Barthé,” May 27, 2020. https://www.swanngalleries.com/news/african-american-art/2020/05/the-elegant-sculptures-of-richmond-barthe/.

The Johnson Collection, LLC. “Richmond Barthe.” Accessed November 29, 2023. https://thejohnsoncollection.org/richmond-barthe/.

Vendryes, Margaret Rose. Barthé: A Life in Sculpture. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2008.

Visiting Richmond Barthé Mural in Brooklyn, NY, with Swann Galleries, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk5ztF2SRrM.