[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 150 (Tuesday, December 20, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: December 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
A SPECIAL SALUTE TO DR. SELMA BURKE
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HON. LOUIS STOKES
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 20, 1994
Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, there are many African-Americans and other
people of color who have made significant contributions to the
development of this Nation. Today I come to share with my colleagues a
special article which appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper
about one such individual. The article explores the life of Dr. Selma
Burke, a remarkably gifted African-American sculptor whose outstanding
artwork has been featured at the Malcolm Brown Gallery in the 11th
Congressional District.
Dr. Burke, now 93 years of age, was first noted for her mastery of
art during the Harlem Renaissance period of the 1920's and 1930's. Her
involvement in the field of art spans more than 5 decades. In fact, Dr.
Burke remains one of the oldest African-American artists still actively
involved in the visual arts. She is the founder of the Selma Burke
School of Sculpture in New York City and the Selma Burke Art Center in
Pittsburgh.
Despite the success Dr. Burke has enjoyed in the field of art,
however, the recognition for one of her most famed works eluded her for
many years. In 1943, Dr. Burke won the District of Columbia Fine Arts
Commission competition for her bronze plaque of President Roosevelt.
Today, this plaque hangs in the Recorder of Deeds Office here in
Washington, DC, and according to scholars, is the basis for the image
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt which appears on the United States
dime.
Mr. Speaker, I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Burke
during a special exhibition in Shaker Heights, OH. On Sunday, December
11, 1994, she was the guest of Ernestine and Malcolm Brown, two of
Cleveland's outstanding individuals who are also the owners of the
Malcolm Brown Gallery. To mark the occasion, I was proud to present Dr.
Burke with a Congressional Proclamation in honor of her significant
accomplishments. During her visit to Cleveland, this gifted artist
spoke and told a fascinating story of how she began her career. Dr.
Burke is an articulate and engaging speaker who held our attention to
every word she spoke. Her appearance in Cleveland and other places was
highlighted on the CBS Morning News. Thus, the Nation is now aware of
the work of this great woman who says, ``I was born to be a sculptor.''
Mr. Speaker, I believe that Dr. Selma Burke deserves special
recognition for her continued efforts to foster a greater appreciation
for the arts. I am pleased to share with my colleagues the Plain Dealer
article which traces the phenomenal history of this great African-
American.
Sculptor, 93, Carving Artworks, Opinions
(By Steven Litt)
Selma Burke, 93, has earned more honors in her long career
than many other 20th-century American artists. She first
garnered attention as a sculptor in the Harlem Renaissance,
the burst of art, music and literature by blacks in New York
during the 1920s and '30s. She later studied in Europe,
founded an art school in New York and an art center in
Pittsburgh, and was awarded nearly a dozen honorary degrees.
But one thing eludes her. It is credit for the portrait of
Franklin D. Roosevelt that appears on the dime, which was
issued by the U.S. Mint in 1946.
The dime bears the tiny initials ``JS,'' which stand for
John Sinnock, the former mint chief engraver who, according
to Burke, copied a bronze portrait plaque of Roosevelt
created by Burke in 1944 for the Recorder of Deeds Office in
Washington, D.C.
``I'm so mad at that man,'' she says of Sinnock.
Officials at the mint say their records show Sinnock
deserves full credit for the Roosevelt dime. But Burke isn't
convinced. She says that because she is black, she will never
get the recognition she feels she deserves.
``This has happened to so many black people,'' she says.
``I have never stopped fighting this man and have never had
anyone who cared enough to give me the credit.''
It is a warm Friday afternoon in June, and Burke is musing
over her career while visiting the Malcolm Brown Gallery in
Shaker Heights, where a solo show of her work is on view
through July 31. The artists sits in a carved wooden chair in
the corner of the gallery, gazing at 15 stone and bronze
sculptures as if they were children she loves despite their
flaws.
``There are things you wished you had done differently, and
things you're glad you did,'' she says, wistfully.
The 15 works on view include a plaster portrait bust of
Duke Ellington, a wood carving of a falling angel clutching a
snake to her chest, and a semi-abstract brass sculpture of a
nude female torso with liquid contours and highlights. The
work blends African-American subjects with a style rooted in
the academic realism of the Works Progress Administration
(WPA) Art Project, in which Burke took part. The FDR plaque
is not part of the show.
As she speaks about her career, Burke oscillates between
grandmotherly warmth and righteous anger. But the artist is
not consumed in bitterness.
She speaks rapturously about how she still works three
hours a day in her studio in Solebury Township, Pa., and
occasionally teaches classes of young schoolchildren in the
area.
``Oh, I love it!'' she says, ``I love carving wood and
stone.'' And she talks about how she finds peace attending a
local Quaker meeting because ``I like the silence.''
Burke was born on Dec. 31, 1900, in Mooresville, N.C.
Despite an early interest in art, she followed her parents'
urgings that she became a nurse.
It was in New York in the mid-1920s that the wealthy
heiress who employed Burke as a nurse encouraged her to take
lessons at the Art Student's League. Burke also worked as a
model for sculptor Paul Manship and photographers Edward
Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz.
In 1935, she met the Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay,
whom she later married. On the eve of World II, Burke earned
fellowships that allowed her to travel in Europe, where she
studied with Henri Matisse and Aristide Maillol.
In 1943, while working as a truck driver for the U.S. Navy
in a New York navy yard, Burke entered a competition to
sculpt a profile of Roosevelt for the Recorder of Deeds
office in Washington, DC. Burke tried for months to work from
photographs, but failed to find a precise profile of the
president. Finally, she wrote the president and requested a
visit.
To her surprise, Roosevelt agreed. During a 45-minute
sketching session in the White House on Feb. 22, 1944, the
loquacious commander in chief peppered the sculptor with so
many questions she couldn't concentrate. Finally, she grabbed
Roosevelt's head in both hands and said: ``Mr. President,
could you hold your head like this?'' Roosevelt stood still,
which allowed Burke to sketch his profile on a sheet of brown
supermarket paper. To her surprise, the president invited her
back the next day for a second session.
A year later, Eleanor Roosevelt visited the artist's New
York studio to view the finished plaque, and told Burke, ``I
think you've made Franklin too young.''
But the artist said: ``I didn't make it for today, I made
it for tomorrow and tomorrow. There's something of a Roman
gladiator in there, a strong ruler in a time of war.''
Burke and some scholars believe that Sinnock used her
sketches and plaques to design the profile of Roosevelt that
appears on the dime.
But Brenda Gatling, public information officer for the
mint, says ``both Ms. Burke and Sinnock did live sittings
with the president. Historical records do not bear out Ms.
Burke's statements that he copied her design. Those who could
have provided eyewitness accounts have long passed on.''
But Burke isn't discouraged. ``Everybody knows I did it,''
she says.
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