Betye Saar

Saar, Betye Irene
American, 1926 - 2026

Betye Saar uses discarded objects to make assemblages full of memory and spirit. Her materials include tchotchkes, figurines, and advertisements from the Jim Crow era. By recycling items and emphasizing their symbolism, Saar challenges the traditional notions of high art associated with fine art painting and sculpture.

Traveling to Haiti, Mexico, and Africa profoundly influenced Saar’s approach, infusing her work with spiritualism. Her artmaking has become ritualistic, unfolding in a carefully orchestrated five-step process.

Saar uses her art as a platform to address racism and sexism and contribute to conversations about social justice and equality. Through works such as her 1972 Liberation of Aunt Jemima, the artist comments on racial stereotypes.

Explore selected works

A scene with a person holding a cornucopia is set against a night sky on this wood block. The person has peachy-brown skin and long silvery hair. A piece of drapery, also silver, flows around the hips as the person holds a cornucopia angled down and to the left. Blue and green material pours or hangs out of the horn. The person is contained within a silver oval frame. Fifteen green teardrop- or sperm-shaped orbs approach the oval to the left and fourteen approach from the right. Everything described so far is shown in low relief on the wood block. A translucent star is pinned or nailed to the panel near the top left corner and a translucent, crescent moon to the top right. To either side of the person are textured triangular shapes. The form to the left is green and points up, like a mountain, and the form to the right is blue and points in, like a cresting wave. Both have ragged edges and appear to be carved and affixed with nails, the heads of which are visible. Two translucent rectangles, possibly the same material as the star and moon, lie side-by-side between the green and blue forms on the bottom edge of the block.
Betye Saar, Twilight Awakening, 1978, mixed media on printer's wood block, Gift of Francine Farr in honor of Dr. Samella Sanders Lewis, with gratitude to Scripps College, Claremont, California, 2015.27.1

Twilight Awakening

Betye Saar · 1978 · mixed media on printer's wood block ·  Accession ID  2015.27.1
The image displays fluid, undulating shapes and lines sweeping diagonally across the canvas. The dominant colors are orange and blue. The composition suggests vibrant flames against a dark, swirling background. In the lower right corner, a smiling face is partially obscured by a headpiece with the word "LIBERATION."
Betye Saar, Judith Solodkin, Blow Top Blues, The Fire Next Time, 1998, color lithograph and collage on Rives wove paper, Gift of Bob Stana and Tom Judy, 2015.115.42

Blow Top Blues, The Fire Next Time

Betye Saar, Judith Solodkin · 1998 · color lithograph and collage on Rives wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.115.42
This sculpture has a tall, rust-colored rectangular body with a thin rectangle or cylinder on top of it, resembling a tower or smokestack. It is made of a textured, weathered material and features circular indents of different sizes across its surface. At the top of the cylindrical protrusion, there are thin metal rods fanning outward, some with a faint red color. A chain with keys dangling from it hangs around the tall tower, similar to a necklace. Below the chain, in the rectangular body of the sculpture, the two largest circular indents have red marks inside them, making them look like eyes. The base of the sculpture is thin and flat.
Betye Saar, The Trickster, 1994, mixed media assemblage, Purchased as the Gift of Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John Davison Rockefeller IV, 2021.85.1

The Trickster

Betye Saar · 1994 · mixed media assemblage ·  Accession ID  2021.85.1
This print features various shapes and lines scattered across a deep blue background. A large hand is at the center with a red sun, a yellow crescent moon, and a curving purple line on its palm. Above the hand are two overlapping yellow shooting stars. A flaming red heart is nearby, along with a purple masquerade mask, a pair of dice, a purple planet with rings, a yellow lightning bolt, and a curving red arrow. In the top left corner is a red sun with rays of green, purple, and yellow. In the bottom right corner is a face with light skin and silver hair and eyebrows. The bottom of the face is not visible.
Betye Saar, Robert Franklin, Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Mystic Sky with Self-Portrait, 1992, color offset lithograph with cut-and-mounted addition on wove paper, Gift of Funds from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, 2023.22.45

Mystic Sky with Self-Portrait

Betye Saar, Robert Franklin, Brandywine Workshop and Archives · 1992 · color offset lithograph with cut-and-mounted addition on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2023.22.45
The image shows a composition of diagonal red stripes alternating with off-white and grey background areas. Long rectangular shapes resembling domino tiles with red, black, and yellow elements are scattered throughout. There are also yellow, petal-like shapes and a silhouette of a person in a white coat within a red oval shape. In one corner, there is a square design made of smaller grey and red squares. The various shapes and colors come together to create an abstract pattern.
Betye Saar, Dat Ol' Black Magic, 1981, paper and plastic collage on printed cotton fabric, Corcoran Collection (The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Gift of Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr., 1996), 2014.136.225

Dat Ol' Black Magic

Betye Saar · 1981 · paper and plastic collage on printed cotton fabric ·  Accession ID  2014.136.225

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Shown from the shins up, two elegantly dressed women and two young boys, all with light skin, sit together on a bench in front of a stone balustrade with a forest landscape beyond in this horizontal portrait painting. The people are brightly lit from our left but the darkened sky suggests dusk. The boys lean onto the woman at the center of the composition, and the second woman sits to her right, our left. All of the people have pale skin, rosy cheeks, delicate noses, and their pink lips all turn up in slight smiles. The woman on our left sits with her body angled toward her friend but she turns her face to look at us with brown eyes under curving brows. Her wavy, flint-gray hair is loosely bound up so it frames the sides of her face and curls over her shoulders. Her swirling, white head covering is edged in gold and tied in a bow over her left ear, on our right. Her long-sleeved dress has a tight-fitting bodice and a low, scooped neckline lined with pleated white fabric. Her dress shimmers from sapphire blue to dusky pink, suggesting it is iridescent taffeta. Large pearls hang off the end of round, gold, hoop earrings, and a glimmering gold sash is tied around her waist. She sits with her left hand resting on her friend’s right shoulder, closer to her, and she gestures toward one of the young boys leaning on the friend’s lap with her other hand. The second woman sits with her body facing us, and she looks off to our left with gray-blue eyes. Her silvery gray, upswept hair is covered with a long piece of white fabric with pink stripes, twisted loosely into a turban-like head covering. She wears dangling gold earrings, and her dress is striped with parchment white and rust red. Her right hand, on our left, rests on her friend’s knee, and her other arm is wrapped around the older boy. He kneels on the bench and leans forward, wrapping the arm we can see around her torso. His face near hers, he looks up at her from under his lashes. A dimple marks the flushed cheek we can see. His chestnut-brown hair falls around his shoulders, and he wears a gingerbread-brown suit. The smaller and younger of the two boys rests his head on his crossed hands on her thigh, and looks out at us. He wears a white garment with a lilac-purple sash tied in a bow around his waist. There is a pale pink rosebush in the lower right corner of the painting, near the kneeling boy’s foot. The landscape beyond the balustrade is filled with dark green trees against a slate-blue sky. The painting is created with blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft look.

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