Jerry Goure

ICS-5
12 December 2013
Presentation - Sargent Claude Johnson

I. Early Life
A. 1887: born in Boston, the 3rd child of 6; father was of Swedish ancestry, mother mixed
Cherokee and African American; some siblings were accepted as Indians or Caucasians,
but Johnson chose to live as a black man.
B. 1902: orphaned and sent to foster homes, including his uncles, where his aunt, sculptor
May Howard Jackson, likely influenced his desire to sculpt.
C. Studied music briefly in Boston, then stayed briefly with relatives in Chicago.
D. 1915: moved to San Francisco.
II. San Francisco
A. 1925: exhibited Elizabeth Gee, “a ceramic bust of a Chinese girl with colour glaze which
was said to be ‘after the manner of Bufano.’”
B. 1926 – 1935: Harmon Foundation
1. Pearl, a porcelain & bronze figure of his daughter.
2. Defiant, a drawing of a mother and child.
3. Became more interested in stylization of forms; experimented with terra cotta,
wood, beaten copper, marble, terrazzo, porcelain & etchings.
C. Hung out with bohemians and communists in North Beach.
1. Thomas Fleming, a friend, says, “We spent many an evening at the studio…
talking about… racial issues in America.”
2. Hung out at an infamous pub in North Beach (Izzy Gomez) with artists such as
Diego Rivera & Jose Orozco.
D. 1935: exhibition with Malvin Gray Johnson & Richmond Barthé.
1. Forever Free, a wood sculpture based on Defiant, with a “relationship to
sculpture of African origin found in… the static position of the head, arms and
feet, as well as the quality of inner tension.
E. 1937: Federal Arts Project
1. An organ screen of carved redwood for the California School for the Blind in
Berkeley.
2. A mural for the Maritime Museum in San Francisco.
F. 1939: The Golden Gate International Exhibition
1. Two 8’ tall stone statues of Incas seated on llamas, in the Court of Pacifica on
Treasure Island.
2. Three statues symbolizing Industry, Home Life & Agriculture
G. 1938 – 1942:
1. Commissioned to design an athletic-themed frieze at George Washington High
School.

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 Jerry Goure

2. Lithography, Lenox Avenue (1938) & Singing Saints (1940), with simple curves
and lines and a lyrical feeling.
III. Late Life
A. 1940s – 1960s: continued to work in bronze, wood, clay, porcelain enamels.
B. 1967: passed away from heart attack

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