Cultural Heroes

Click above for images of Cultural Heroes.
Photo Credit Dean Dixon.

Cultural Heroes is a concept conceived by Alan LeQuire inspired by one of his favorite museums, the Cluny Museum in Paris. The museum displays the heads of the Kings of France, which were broken off the facade of Notre Dame during the French Revolution and rediscovered during the 1970s. These larger-than-life stone heads are displayed in such an ethereal setting that they continued to affect Alan LeQuire, even years after he first encountered them. Cultural Heroes features the first six icons of an ongoing series of artists who were key role players for Civil Rights, putting their careers on the line. Sculpted in a moment of performance, these colossal portrait heads also represent various ways of handling clay, always with the intent to make the material and its treatment at least as important as the subject matter. The artist's six role models currently represented in the sculptures are Marian Anderson, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, and Woody Guthrie.

Alan LeQuire strives to create a larger-than-life portrait that has the breath of life of the individual. Sculpting his personal heroes, LeQuire understands and communicates their artistic ecstasy. The result is a miraculous object that possesses the living presence of a person and gives it permanence. Insight into a personality can be found through movement sensed through posture and passion projected through expression. LeQuire sculpts in clay, and there is always the opportunity to explore texture and new ways of handling the material. For the sculptor, the manipulation of the clay is his signature.

The Cultural Heroes series showcases Alan LeQuire's passion for working with clay and his impulse to infuse the clay with the living presence of a person. "With the Cultural Heroes series, I wanted to create larger-than-life portrait heads that would affect the viewer with their beauty and presence," states Sculptor Alan LeQuire. "I am interested in real people whose art succeeded despite obstacles. This early 20th Century group represents the great contributions of the artists who were the grandparents of the Civil Rights movement."

Cultural Heroes is featured in Prestige New York magazine. Click above to read the article.

Click here to view LeQuire's unveiling of Marian Anderson.

ABOUT THE CULTURAL ICONS

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was described by the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini as having a voice that "is heard only once in a hundred years." The Contralto was a woman who raised her art to a pinnacle of such perfection that when she sang, music became akin to religion in its emotional impact. She debuted at the New York Philharmonic in 1925 and scored an immediate success with the public and the critics. In 1928, she debuted at Carnegie Hall. In 1939, after a scheduled performance in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall was cancelled based on her race, she was invited with the aid of President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to sing at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. In a critically acclaimed open-air concert, she performed for over 75,000 people. The 1939 documentary film, Marian Anderson: the Lincoln Memorial Concert was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1955, Anderson broke the color barrier again by becoming the first African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. She was awarded a GRAMMY Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. Marian Anderson's 113th birthday will be commemorated on February 27, 2010.

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), a prolific writer and performer, was a folk singer that transformed the ballad into a vehicle for social protest. He traveled the country during the Depression singing and writing about the hardships endured by poor people and migrant workers. His exposure on the radio provided him a platform for his controversial social commentary and criticism. Woody proved himself a hard-hitting advocate for truth, fairness, and justice. Arriving in New York City in 1940, he met his contemporaries Lead Belly, Burl Ives, Cisco Houston, Will Geer, among many others that comprised his close friends and musical collaborators. They helped to establish folk music as a viable commercial genre within the music industry. Woody's songs became known to a larger public and he began to enjoy financial success. In the 1950s, Guthrie was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, a neurological disorder dramatically affecting his moods and physical condition. He died in 1967 after writing nearly 3,000 song lyrics, publishing two novels, creating artworks, and authoring numerous manuscripts, poems, prose, and plays. Woody Guthrie's songs about oppressed people are his most recognized contribution to American culture.

Click above for images of Cultural Heroes.

Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was one of the greatest jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. Known as the "Queen of Song," she rose as a social phenomenon in the 1950s. Her soulful, unique singing voice and her ability to boldly turn any material that she confronted into her own music made her a superstar of her time. At the age of 18, Holiday was spotted by John Hammond and cut her first record as part of a studio group led by Benny Goodman, who was then just on the verge of public prominence. In 1936, Holiday began working with Lester Young who pegged her with her now-famous nickname of "Lady Day." When Holiday joined Count Basie in 1937 and then Artie Shaw in 1938, she became one of the very first black women to work with a white orchestra, an impressive accomplishment of her time. Despite her lack of technical training, Holiday's unique diction, inimitable phrasing and acute dramatic intensity made her the outstanding jazz singer of her day. Holiday recorded approximately 100 recordings from 1952 to 1959. During this period, she toured Europe and made her final studio recordings for the MGM label in March 1959. A musical legend, she died an untimely death at the age of 44. Her emotive voice, innovative techniques and touching songs will forever be remembered and enjoyed.

Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter (1918-1949) was a musical virtuoso, a dynamic performer, and a prolific songwriter. Known as the king of the twelve-string guitar, he also mastered the accordion, mandolin, and piano. In the 1930s, while serving time in a Louisiana prison for fighting, he was "discovered" by folklorists John and Alan Lomax who were recording prison songs for the Library of Congress. They brought Lead Belly to New York where he was received with great acclaim. In the early 1940s, he performed with Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Woody Guthrie. Lead Belly enjoyed national recognition as a blues and folk musician and singer. His fame and success continued to increase until he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease and died in 1949. After his death, his most famous song "Good Night, Irene" went to #1 on the charts and sold a million copies and was recorded by Pete Seeger. His vast songbook of over 500 songs has remained an important resource and inspiration for some of the greatest artists both black and white.

Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was a successful scholar, athlete, singer, actor, and social activist. As a student at Rutgers University, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society and valedictorian of his class. He was also an outstanding athlete as the first black football player at the University. After earning a law degree, he joined a law firm but left the practice after a white secretary refused to take dictation from him. He decided to pursue his artistic talents to promote African and African-American history and culture. What followed was a brilliant career as a stage and film actor and concert singer that spanned nearly four decades. He made his concert debut in 1925 and went on to such stage successes as Show Boat, Porgy and Bess, and Othello. He starred in 13 films between the 1930s and the early 1940s, but decided to stop making movies until there were better opportunities for blacks. Robeson became known as the citizen of the world traveling extensively and performing in 25 languages throughout the world. Wherever he traveled, Robeson championed the cause of the common person. Unfortunately, illness ended his professional career in 1961 and he died in January 1976 at the age of 77. Ultimately, Robeson has a rich legacy remembered as a man of fierce dignity striving against immense adversity. His courage fighting against bigotry and inequality was an example for the civil rights activists of the 1960s.

Bessie Smith (1894-1937) was widely known as the "Empress of the Blues." Born in Tennessee, she became one of the most successful vaudeville artists of the 1920s. Her career began as a street performer and success came when she made her first recording in 1923 for Columbia Records. With her rich, powerful, and clear voice, she became a successful recording artist and toured extensively for the rest of her life. During her recording career, Smith worked with many important jazz performers, including collaborating with the legendary jazz artist Louis Armstrong on several tunes. By the late 1920s, her career began to flounder. In 1933, she stopped recording but continued to tour. As a Blues artist, she knew firsthand about struggle and heartbreak. Her first husband died and her second marriage ended unhappily. She also battled a problem with alcohol. While working on a comeback in September 1937, she died as a result of an automobile accident. Since her death, her music continues to win over new fans and collections of her songs have sold well over the years, and she has been immortalized by her tremendous influence on today's blues and jazz artists.