JACKSONVILLE – The largest display of Green Cove Springs artist Augusta Savage’s work, including sculptures, paintings, photographs and letters, is currently on display at the Cummer Museum Art & Gardens until April.

Savage was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance and educator for black artists coming to New York City in the 1920s. She was born in Green Cove Springs in 1892 and died in 1962.

Guest curator Jeffreen Hayes is the executive director of Three Walls, a Chicago-based arts organization. Hayes said she spent three years compiling the 80 works in the exhibit, including 19 sculptures and one watercolor and pieces from Savage’s students. The exhibit will tour at museums in New York and Pennsylvania after its run at the Cummer Museum.

Hayes said she grew up in Orlando and Jacksonville and learned of Savage when she attended Howard University about 15 years ago.

“[Savage] was someone I could connect to,” Hayes said. “She has lived in my heart and soul ever since, so any time I can research her or give a public talk on her in museum life I would do so.”

Savage was the first black woman to have an gallery, though short-lived, dedicated to black artists in Harlem, Hayes said, and she was an essential artist who never received wider acknowledgement as an artist, person or educator due to her gender and skin color.

Hayes emphasized Savage’s struggle should be recognized, and referenced a selection committee that denied Savage a chance to study at the prestigious Fontainebleau School of the Fine Arts in France based on race.

“[Savage] received a scholarship to study in France and it was taken away because she was black. The selection committee were all white men and once they found out, they took away the opportunity for her to study,” Hayes said. “To see it in the letter where they state [to civil rights W.E.B DuBois who questioned the decision], ‘Yes, it’s explicitly because of her race and we have Southern white women, who will also be traveling. They can’t be expected to travel with this negro woman.’ To see it so blatant was shocking.”

The presentation of the exhibit is about making museum-goers have a positive experience, but also engaging them deeply through the work, Hayes said.

“She opened up her home in Harlem and was teaching young people as well as adults. She was serving as a leader for black artists,” Hayes said. “When black artists would move to New York, they were always told they needed to seek out Augusta Savage.”

Holly Keris, acting director of Cummer, said the museum already owned two pieces of Savage’s work, including the sculpture “Diving Boy,” which depicts a small, apprehensive child hunched with hands clasped. In 2011, the piece was showcased during the museum’s 50th anniversary.

“We’ve had an interest in sharing her story and her legacy for quite some time,” Keris said. “It’s really the first project of this scale we’ve assembled with multiple owners, that is also going on to travel nationally under the Cummer name. That’s pretty exciting for a hometown hero in North Florida to be that featured with a project of this magnitude on the national scene.”

Keris said it was important to give Savage the credit she deserved and didn’t receive during her lifetime. Savage was relevant because she persevered, Keris said.

“I continue to struggle what exactly the right adjectives are [for Savage’s story]. It’s remarkable. It’s difficult. It’s inspirational. It’s so timely too,” Keris said. “One of the things we may hear from people is, ‘Why should I care about art from the early 20th Century?’ You know, any time period other than our own? Once you become familiar with her story, if you took out the dates, it could be today.”

Local Green Cove Springs resident and historian Eugene Francis said Hayes did an incredible job with curating the art, especially with the scarcity of Savage’s work.

“You don’t have many Savage pieces around. It’s great for the Cummer to pull this off,” Francis said. “I was very impressed with the exhibit. Everyone in Clay County should have a chance to see this show.”

The city of Green Cove Springs is a partner in the project, and recently sponsored fourth-graders from Charles E. Bennett Elementary to visit the exhibit. Mayor Connie Butler attended the exhibit’s opening and said the city was proud of Savage’s origins.

Art has a different effect in person, she said.

“Just to see her sculpture in real life kind of gives me that energy. It kind of brought everything to life, just the detail of her work, the skill of her work and her talent,” Butler said. “To read about it is not enough.”