Light & Shadow

Bronze; 1962
Dorothy Porter Wesley
Archives Collection
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Selma Burke (1900-1995) sculptor, educator and humanitarian was born in Mooresville, North Carolina. While digging out the clay at her parents farm and squeezing it in her hand, she stated, “It was there in 1907 that I discovered me.” She studied at St. Agnes training School for Nurses, RN, 1924; attended
Columbia University New York, 1936-1941; Studies of Art Sculpture under Maillol, Paris, France, 1937;
Povolney, Vienna, Austria, 1933, 1934; Hans Reis, New York; Principal Medium Sculpture (marble, bronze, and wood).
One of Selma’s outstanding works is Light and Shadow, Bronze, 1962. She was the Winner of the Fine Arts Commission for the District of Columbia Competition; Profile of President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt used on the U.S. Dime (unveiled by President Harry S. Truman, September 24, 1945.)
The animating force in Burke's sculpture comes from the feeling and responses generated from a direct participation in the totality of events that make up the conscious past of an individual’s life. Other works of Burke include Temptation, Falling Angel, Peace, and Mother & Child.

Photo by Quentin Moses © 2002