"Acrobat, " Highly Important Bas Relief by Richmond Barthé

This original black and white photograph of one of Richmond Barthé's rare, little-known sculptures was taken by the famous studio of Morgan and Marvin Smith, who located on West 125th Street next to the renowned Apollo Theater. The Smith brothers moved from their native Kentucky to New York in the early 1930s, and proceeded to establish a studio that brought together almost every major figure in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, mentoring artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Gwendolyn Knight, Selma Burke, Ernest Crichlow and Robert Blackburn. The Smiths captured the night life of Harlem, including musicians and actors such as Harry Belafonte, Sydney Poitier, Eartha Kitt, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniels, Zora Neal Hurston, Step n' Fetchit, Pearl...

Created by one of the great masters of bas relief sculpture in America, John Flanagan, this profile depiction of the goddess Aphrodite was used as the model for the famous "Aphrodite/Swift Runners" bronze medal issued in 1932 by the Society of Medalists...