The Permanence of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller's Painted Plaster

Abstract From Salon entries brokered by French sculptor Auguste Rodin to US government commissions supported by American sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois, the African American sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877–1968) used white plaster to execute her finished works at the beginning of her seventy-year career. Being neither marble nor bronze, however, the material lacked traditional historic significance and lasting power. Furthermore, plaster has the tendency to whitewash a subject, particularly meaningful for an artist focusing on African American themes in the early twentieth century. Since few of Fuller’s sculptures were cast in bronze, the color transformation from white plaster to brown patina underlines the importance of materials to establish legitimacy and, more importantly, to forge connections with the Black experience in US monumental sculpture. By painting her plaster sculptures, she bypassed an expensive process and exercised visual control over the appearance and perception of her work. As a result, she set a precedent among African American sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance, including Richmond Barthé, Augusta Savage, and Sargent Claude Johnson, all of whom chose to paint plaster to highlight the Black body.