Barthé is celebrated today as one of the most talented sculptors associated with the Harlem Renaissance, as well as a pioneering queer artist. Born in Mississippi, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, originally as a painter, but soon discovered his true medium in three dimensions. Politically engaged and acutely aware of the discrimination against Blacks that grew more violently aggressive, especially between the World Wars, Barthé specialized in the representation of the Black body. He was critically acclaimed early in his career, enjoying a one-man show at the Whitney Museum of Art in 1934, and was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1940 and 1941. Two years later, his bronze, The Boxer, was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When the New York art world shifted towards abstraction following World War II, Barthé increasingly turned to portrait sculpture to support himself. In this early example, the dark wash is not just a simulation of bronze, but also an attempt to capture the soft sheen of the youth’s skin and the pure beauty of childhood.