To Sculpt Bussa and So Much More: The Impact of Karl Broodhagen

Barbados is experiencing a creative explosion of sorts in the recent years. Music has always been at the forefront of the cultural experience as soca and calypso developed alongside the festivals we experience in the country. Writing as well has a long standing tradition in Barbados, George Lamming’s In The Castle Of My Skin, a watershed piece of Barbadian literature and Frank Collymore, his schoolteacher was an impressive editor himself. However, unlike these two creative styles, physical art has had a more recent history. This is largely due to the influence of one man, Karl Broodhagen.

Born in 1909 in Georgetown Guyana, Mr. Broodhagen found himself in Barbados around the age of fifteen, where he grew up in Church Village, Black Rock, St Michael. As with every person living in Barbados during the early 1900’s he learned a trade, tailoring, which upon mastering allowed him to open a business. Because of the rarity of art as a viable career, particularly sculpting, which was not widely practiced at the time, he could only do it as a hobby, taking money from his business to buy clay for his creations as he taught himself how to sculpt. He attributed this to his artistic nature as he was himself from a family of artists, both his uncle Horace Broodhagen and cousin Margorie Broodhagen are artists in their own right.

His first exhibition was in Queens Park, as the Barbados Art Society (now the Barbados Art Council) would host the Industrial Exhibition in the park where an individual could submit an art piece fulfilling a category. He explained that he would send in paintings and drawings (which he was also quite exceptional at) until one day, upon noticing a category for sculptures he sent in one that he worked really hard to finish, and won. This was the first of many exhibitions for him. In 1948, his exhibition at the British Council found him a scholarship to Goldsmith’s College in London four years later (1952). Here he learned even more techniques and deepened his artistic talents as until this time he was entirely self taught (Callaghan, 2017).  He has gone on to exhibit in England, Trinidad, Grenada, Guyana, Cayman Islands, The United States and Canada.

Sir Grantly Adams Satue, Barbados. Photograph. WikiData. November 30, 2000. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Grantley_Adams_statue,_Barbados.jpg

His work focuses on the individual, a casual likeness to the personal struggle and advancement of Caribbean people. He explained in an interview with Derrice Dean that the features of his subject determines his medium, whether it be a sculpture, painting or drawing. In addition, in another interview with Marvo Manning, he says that even though he can sculpt anyone, his work is mostly of black people, particularly black women because he finds beauty in it, the full lips, broad noses and other African features.

Even if you are unfamiliar with Mr Broodhagen, it is impossible to live in Barbados and not know his work. Bussa, the subject of the Emancipation Statue officially named “Slave in Revolt” is perhaps his greatest work, however it is not his only one. He is also the man behind Sir Garfield Sobers’ statue outside of Kensington Oval, as well as Sir Grantley Adams’ one at the entrance of the Government Headquarters in Bridgetown (Callaghan, 2017).

Dogfacebob. Photo of the Emancipation Statue. Photograph. Wikipedia. January 1, 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Statue_(Haggett_Hall,_Barbados)

Furthermore his work was sought out by the movers and shakers of his time including Dame Nita Barrow, Nobel Prize winning author Derek Walcott and George Lamming who all commissioned busts (Callaghan, 2017).

Sir Garfield Sobers Statue. Photograph. Barbados Pocket Guide. (n.d.). https://www.barbadospocketguide.com/our-island-barbados/meet-a-bajan/sir-garfield-sobers.html

His story cannot be told without the influence of Frank Collymore and Major Noot, who encouraged him to teach at Combermere. So he did, developing the first art department and building an art curriculum from scratch as he taught on and off for the next fifty years (Callaghan, 2017). Mr Broodhagen believes that everyone has an inherent artistic desire within them, especially young children as they are naturally inclined to ‘scribble’. He explains that during his time, this desire amongst children would be stifled by society because of the need for practicality, to find trades that make money to survive. There was no time for art. Therefore, he found it quite difficult to engage students at the start, but he managed.

By his own admission he explains that the art program developed by the Barbados Community College (created after he began teaching) is the catalyst to the explosion of art as now students found themselves with further opportunities after their graduation from secondary school as now it was a possibility to enter overseas art schools upon completion of the program. This is quite a humble assessment because had it not been for his development of an art department, other schools might not have formed one either. This, along with the healing economy, provided a demand for art and art opportunities to which the Barbados Community College provided.

In 2002, Karl Broodhagen died, leaving behind countless sculptures, paintings, wood carvings, drawings, physical proof that he was alive and he was here. He also left behind a legacy that affects everyone in this country whether they know it or not.

Bibliography

“Bajan Treasure, Artist Karl Broodhagen - YouTube.” Accessed February 21, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtWn6sk_X2A.

Barbados, National Cultural Foundation -. “Cultural Treasure: Karl Broodhagen.” Facebook Watch, July 13, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=400729241359786.

Callaghan, Brett. “Karl Broodhagen-Sculptor of the Bussa Statue.” Totally Barbados, June 17, 2017. https://www.totallybarbados.com/articles/about-barbados/people/meet-a-bajan/karl-broodhagen/#.YhPRYOjMLIV.

Cozier, Christopher. “Karl Broodhagen: Hands of Clay.” Caribbean Beat Magazine. Media and Editorial Projects Limited, September 21, 2021. https://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-34/hands-clay#axzz7Kz8h6XFn.