Enduring Voices Catalogue (6-21-23) - Flipbook - Page 35
Betye
SAAR
(b. 1926)
Betye Saar is known for her provocative and inspirational prints
and assemblages. As a key figure in the Black Arts Movement
of the 1970s, Saar often appropriated characters such as
Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo, and other Black
stereotypes from the Jim Crow era into her work as statements
of social protest. In one of Saar’s best known works, The Liberation
of Aunt Jemima (1972), she arms a Black Mammy caricature with
a broom and rifle, challenging violence against Black Americans
and the derogatory images that buttress such violence.
Betye Saar was born in Los Angeles, and raised in Pasadena,
California. She earned a bachelor’s degree in design in 1947 at
UCLA and went on to graduate studies at numerous California
universities. Growing up, Saar was an avid collector of various
ephemera, with an increasing focus on racist images and items as
a young adult. Her interest in creating assemblages was piqued
by a 1967 exhibition by found object sculptor Joseph Cornell.
Saar’s work also explored African ritual and mysticism, using tribal
objects and items from African American folk traditions; and the
artist has also looked to her own family and heritage as inspiration
for her work. Participating in various Black activist and feminist
movements, Saar’s work with like-minded Black women artists
led to a group show titled Sapphire (You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby)
(1970), which many believe was the first contemporary African
American women’s exhibition in California. Throughout the 1980s,
Saar taught at UCLA and the Otis Art Institute. At ninety-five, she
continues her work in found object sculpture.
BETYE SAAR
COLLECTING WHAT YOU LIKE
The Betye Saar As the Crow Flies is such a
compelling piece, a very strong piece. It tells a story
of Africans being brought to America as slaves. She
was able to work in the slave ship imagery with found
materials. We’ve had that piece for quite a long time,
and we have admired her work for some years. Now
she has had a big show at the Museum of Modern
Art, which is big time. That was not the case when
we bought that incredible piece. Saar works with
found materials, and the work has a folk art quality.
We do have an interest in folk art and outsider art.
That interest began at the time we acquired this Betye
Saar piece.
We find it interesting to think about her in the context
of some of our outsider works also using found
material. Saar is classic, but many of the outsider
artists might be, too. Where is the difference? Why
do we classify? We think this piece tells a compelling
story and exudes strength. We think it is visual art
speaking as powerfully as possible. An additional
note, this work inspired Cindy Wynn, a Key West
artist friend who works with found materials, to make
the base on which it seems to float so well.
–Susan S. and David R. Goode
Interesting Saar Fact:
In the 1980s, Betye Saar began creating room-size installations through which she encouraged viewers to contribute objects,
a common practice in African cultures.
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