Julius

Born in Bay Saint Louis, Missouri, Barthé was reared in New Orleans, where he received a grade school education. Due to racism he was barred from local art schools but a priest suggested that he study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago which he did between 1924 and 1928. Around 1930 Barthé moved to New York and became a key participant in the Harlem Renaissance. He submitted sculptural portraits and figures to the Pennsylvania Academy’s annuals of 1938 and 1940-48; this work was featured in the 1943 exhibition. Barthé’s friend Carl Van Vechten, the well-known photographer, music critic, and devotee of African American culture, commissioned this bust of his housekeeper’s nephew.