By Paul Von Blum Sculpture has played a powerful role in the artistic heritage of Africa. Viewers familiar with Pablo Picasso, Amadeo Modligiani, Constantin Brancusi, Chaim Soutine, and others, easily discern the powerful influence of African sculpture in their artworks. African Diaspora artists have continued this legacy of artistic excellence. Travelers in Haiti, Cuba, Belize, Barbados, Jamaica, and elsewhere in the region have frequent opportunity to see Afro-Caribbean sculptures that compare favorably with works found throughout Africa.
Similar works are widely available in Panama, Surinam, Brazil, and other regions of Latin America.
In the United States, moreover, sculpture has played a large role in the history of African American art since slave days. The efforts of Edmonia Lewis, Meta Fuller, Augusta Savage, Sargent Johnson, Richmond Barthe, Elizabeth Catlett, and Artis Lane, among many others, have added enormous distinction to American art history generally. Los Angeles has been the site of a renaissance of African American sculptural art. From the 1960s to the present, Noah Purifoy, Betye Saar, John Outterbridge, Alison Saar, and others have added their personal visions to this body of art. Charles Dickson has been a key figure in this community for more than 30 years.