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Betye Saar facts for kids

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"Betye" redirects here. For a similar given name, see Bettye.
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Betye Saar
Portrait of Betye Saar. Site Installations, 1989. A Cultural Presentation of the United States of America. - DPLA - 222f r.jpg
Born
Betye Irene Brown

(1926-07-30) July 30, 1926 (age 98)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Education University of California, Los Angeles, Pasadena City College, California State University, Long Beach
Known for Assemblage

Betye Irene Saar (born July 30, 1926) is an American artist. She is famous for her art called assemblage. This is a type of art where artists create 3D artworks by putting together different "found objects." These can be everyday items, old photos, or pieces of junk.

Saar is a great storyteller through her art. She was part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s. This movement used art to explore and challenge old ideas and stereotypes about race and women. Her art is very powerful because it questions unfair ideas about African Americans. She is best known for her art that speaks out against anti-Black racism in the United States.

Early Life and Education

Betye Irene Brown was born on July 30, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. Her parents, Jefferson Maze Brown and Beatrice Lillian Parson, met at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Betye spent her early years in Los Angeles. After her father passed away in 1931, she, her mother, brother, and sister moved in with her grandmother in the Watts neighborhood. Later, the family moved to Pasadena, California, to live with her great-aunt and her husband.

As a child, Betye loved collecting different items. She also enjoyed creating and fixing things. She started her college art classes at Pasadena City College. She then went to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a degree in design in 1947. She continued her studies at other universities, including California State University, Long Beach. During her graduate studies, she married Richard Saar. They had three daughters: Tracye, Alison, and Lezley.

Artistic Career

Starting as an Artist

Betye Saar first worked as a social worker. But she soon followed her passion for art. She began graduate school in 1958, planning to teach design. However, a printmaking class changed her path. She said printmaking was her "way from design into fine arts."

In her early work, Saar started collecting images that showed racist ideas. She continued to use these throughout her career. She was inspired to create assemblages after seeing an art show in 1967 by an artist named Joseph Cornell. She was also greatly influenced by Simon Rodia's Watts Towers. She had seen these amazing towers being built when she was a child. Saar loved how Rodia used "broken dishes, sea shells, rusty tools, even corn cobs" to create them.

She also visited the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. There, she saw many African, Oceanic, and Egyptian artworks. This was a very important step in her journey as an artist. She started making art from found objects placed in boxes or windows. These items often came from different cultures, showing her own mixed background of African American, Irish, and Native American heritage.

Challenging Stereotypes

Saar was raised by her Aunt Hattie, who helped shape her identity as a Black woman. Saar saw her great-aunt as a woman with dignity. This influenced how Saar showed Black women in her art. One artwork, Record For Hattie (1972), is a tribute to her great-aunt. It is made from an old jewelry box and includes a faded picture of a woman, sewing materials, and other items.

In the 1970s, Saar's art pushed back against certain art styles and the white feminist movement that often ignored issues of race. Her work combines ideas from Black power, spirituality, and feminism. An example is Black Girl's Window (1969). This piece uses an old window. It shows the painted outline of a girl pressing her face and hands against the glass. Around her head are symbols like moons, stars, and a howling wolf.

In the 1960s, Saar began collecting images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, and other stereotyped African American figures. These were often found in old ads and folk art from the Jim Crow era. She used these images in her art to make strong statements of protest.

The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is one of her most famous works from this time. In this artwork, Saar used the well-known mammy figure of Aunt Jemima. She changed this image to challenge old ideas about race and gender. Saar explained that she wanted to "empower her. I wanted to make her a warrior." She wanted people to know that Black people would not be held back by these old ideas.

Saar's artwork is set inside a shoebox-sized frame covered with Aunt Jemima ads. A sculpture of Aunt Jemima holds a broom and a rifle. This changes her from a happy servant into a powerful figure. A large, clenched fist, like the Black power symbol, is placed over a photo of a mammy. This shows the strong actions taken by African American activists in the 1970s. Through this art, Aunt Jemima is "liberated" from a racist image into a symbol of Black power.

Saar sees herself as a feminist. However, she prefers to talk about the different cultures and spiritual ideas in her art. In the early 1970s, she faced racism within the white feminist art world. These experiences made her want to promote a strong Black identity.

Assemblage and Installations

Saar often visited flea markets and yard sales. There, she found many old items that showed racist images of Black people. These included ads, toys, and knickknacks. She used these items in her art to "explode the myth" of such images.

In the 1970s, Saar also explored African tribal objects and African American folk traditions. When her great-aunt passed away in 1974, Saar used family items like old photos, letters, and lockets in her art. She arranged them in shrine-like boxes to show memory and the passing of time. She called this her "nostalgic series."

In 1977, Saar created Spirit Catcher. This piece looks like a traditional item used in rituals. Saar said that even though it's not a real ritual object, it still has magical qualities. It includes a mirror that can be seen as protection against racism. Saar sometimes used natural materials like bamboo and skulls in her work, as seen in Spirit Catcher. This artwork inspired other artists to explore an organic and mysterious sense of Blackness. A TV documentary about her art, Spirit Catcher—The Art of Betye Saar, aired in 1978.

In the early 1980s, Saar taught art in Los Angeles. Her own art started to become much larger, sometimes filling whole rooms. These large artworks often explored the connection between technology and spirituality. They also included her interest in mysticism and Voodoo. She would combine computer chips with mystical charms. This suggested that both technical and spiritual knowledge are important.

Betye Saar still lives and works in Los Angeles. She mainly creates sculptures from found objects. She has received many honorary degrees from art colleges.

The Liberation of Aunt Jemima in Detail

Betye Saar's 1972 artwork, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, was inspired by a small Aunt Jemima figure she found. It is a three-dimensional artwork made from different materials. This piece shows how Aunt Jemima was exaggerated in every way by stereotypes. She wears a large, colorful dress and a bright, checkered headpiece. Her skin is shown as very dark, and her eyes and lips are large and red. Saar highlights these features to show the stereotype of being Black.

The figure holds a broom in one hand, suggesting she was only good for cleaning. She stands on cotton, representing slavery. But in her left hand, she also holds a rifle. This shows a connection between Aunt Jemima and the idea of resistance. By doing this, Saar makes Aunt Jemima a powerful figure who demands attention.

Angela Davis, a famous activist, has said this artwork helped start the Black women's movement.

In 2016, Saar explained her choices in the piece: "I found a little Aunt Jemima mammy figure, a caricature of a Black slave... She had a broom in one hand, and, on the other side, I gave her a rifle. In front of her, I placed a little postcard, of a mammy with a mulatto child, which is another way Black women were exploited during slavery. I used the derogatory image to empower the Black woman by making her a revolutionary, like she was rebelling against her past enslavement."

Richard Schur, a writer, said that Saar used Aunt Jemima's image to promote Black cultural pride in the 1960s and 1970s. She wanted to fix the unfairness of over a hundred years of stereotyped advertising. She shows Aunt Jemima in angry, defiant, or rebellious poses. This artwork was inspired by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Saar wanted to encourage political independence and break stereotypes about Black women.

Film Work

In 1971, Saar made a film called Colored Spade. After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Saar started working with racist images of Black people that were common in American culture.

Saar decided to put these images together in a film. The film was based on a song from the musical Hair called Colored Spade. This song lists many offensive terms for African Americans. The film shows a fast-moving collection of old caricatured images from the late 1800s and early 1900s. These came from things like sheet music, comics, and food containers. Many of these images are animated with camera movements and quick cuts.

Eventually, the images of Black people are replaced by images of racist groups. Then, the film shows a photograph of a white policeman. Saar zooms in until the image becomes blurry. Then, she zooms out to show important figures from the Civil Rights movement, like Dr. King and Angela Davis. By doing this, Saar changes the meaning of these racist images. She uses them to show evidence of white prejudice, rather than showing Black people in a bad light.

Political Activism

In the late 1960s, Saar began to focus on the civil rights movement and issues of race. Black women artists like Saar, Faith Ringgold, and Howardena Pindell explored African American identities. They actively spoke out against racism in the art world. They were also drawn to the cause of women's liberation.

Saar met with other Black women artists in 1970. They created a group art show called Sapphire (You've Come a Long Way, Baby). This was likely the first art show in California featuring contemporary African American women artists.

When asked about politics in her art, Saar said in 2015, "I don't know how politics can be avoided." She talked about the fear parents of young Black males might have about their children being arrested. She noted that living in the United States is not always comfortable for everyone.

Bettye Saar Kareem AbdulJabbar Henry Louis Gates
Bettye Saar with fellow UCLA Bruin Kareem Abdul-Jabbar receiving The W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Henry Louis Gates at Harvard on October 6, 2022.

Discussing Art and Stereotypes

In the late 1990s, Saar openly discussed the work of artist Kara Walker. Walker's art often included shocking images that some people felt challenged racist stereotypes. Others, like Saar and Howardena Pindell, believed that Walker's art might actually make racist stereotypes stronger.

Saar felt that some of Walker's art was "revolting and negative." She thought it was a "betrayal to the slaves, particularly women and children." She believed it was mainly for the entertainment of the white art world. The age difference between Saar and Walker might explain their different views. When Walker received a major art award in 1997, Saar wrote letters to people in the art world. She questioned if African Americans were being "betrayed under the guise of art." This showed a discussion within the art world about how best to represent and challenge difficult parts of history.

Solo Exhibitions

Betye Saar has had many solo art shows around the world. Here are a few examples:

Awards and Honors

Betye Saar has received many awards and honors for her art, including:

  • 1984 and 1974: National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowship
  • 1990: 22nd Annual Artist Award, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
  • 1991: Honorary Doctorate Degree: California College of the Arts
  • 1991: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
  • 1992: Honorary Doctorate Degrees: Otis College of Art and Design and San Francisco Art Institute
  • 2014: Edward MacDowell Medal
  • 2020: Wolfgang-Hahn-Preis Köln

Notable Works in Public Collections

Many of Betye Saar's artworks are held in important public art collections. Here are some of them:

Images for kids

  • Betye Saar

    Saar in 2016

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Betye Saar para niños

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