A maquette of W.E.B. Du Bois by artist Richard Blake was on display at the Berkshire Athenaeum in 2023. Blake’s sculpture of Du Bois is soon to be cast in bronze and unveiled in front of the Mason Public Library in Great Barrington on July 19.
GREAT BARRINGTON — After nearly a decade of work to bring a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois to downtown, a life-size statue of the civil rights architect is set to be unveiled this summer.
Sculptor Richard Blake with his sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois that is soon to be caste in bronze. The sculpture will then be placed seated on a new marble plaza bench at the Mason Public Library in Great Barrington.
The unveiling event, which will be held in a new plaza at the Mason Public Library, is scheduled for noon on Saturday, July 19, according to a press release from the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project.
A seated bronze sculpture of Du Bois, made by Richard Blake, will be positioned on a curved marble bench around renovated library steps.
The sculpture was commissioned by the Sculpture Project nonprofit, which raised $450,000 for the artwork and the bench. The stairs are being renovated by the town.
Sculpture Project co-chair Ari Zorn said in a statement that while the weekend’s events are still in the planning phase, the nonprofit wanted the public to know that the “the statue is being caste and will be ready for delivery in July.”
Other related events, including two at Chesterwood in Stockbridge, will also be scheduled over that weekend.
On July 18, Chesterwood, the home of sculptor Daniel Chester French, will host a talk by Blake about making the Du Bois sculpture. On the afternoon of July 19, historian Kendra Field will interview Blake “on how he went about conceptualizing the Du Bois he created,” according to the statement.
Born and educated in Great Barrington, Du Bois went on to become a scholar in sociology and in the African American experience. He founded the NAACP. He also was a prolific writer and a poet. He is widely known for his seminal work, “The Souls of Black Folk.”
The sculpture is part of a larger movement in town to honor Du Bois, as well as other important Black figures with connections to Great Barrington.
To promote the weekend’s events, the Du Bois Sculpture Project is working with the W.E.B. Du Bois Town Legacy Committee, Embrace Boston, and Blackshires.
