Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California, United States
Betye Saar attended Pasadena City College.
Gallery of Betye Saar
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
In 1949 Betye Saar earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in design from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Career
Gallery of Betye Saar
2011
600 State Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90037, United States
Betye Saar appears on the red carpet to be honored at 'An Artful Evening At CAAM' Gala on October 15, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Earl Gibson III
Gallery of Betye Saar
2011
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States
(L-R) Alison Saar, Michael Govan, Director of LACMA and artist Betye Saar pose during the Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980 opening event held at the Getty Center on October 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Ryan Miller
Gallery of Betye Saar
2011
600 State Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90037, United States
(L-R) Donald McKayle, Betye Saar and Herbie Hancock serve as honored guest for their lifetime achievements at 'An Artful Evening At CAAM' on October 15, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Earl Gibson III
Gallery of Betye Saar
2015
250 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States
Artist Betty Saar attends the 2015 MOCA Gala presented by Louis Vuitton at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on May 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
Gallery of Betye Saar
2018
768 5th Ave, New York, NY 10019, United States
Alison Saar and Betye Saar speak at Skowhegan Awards Dinner 2018 at The Plaza Hotel on April 24, 2018 in New York City. Photo by Presley Ann
Gallery of Betye Saar
2018
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Honoree Catherine Opie, wearing Gucci, and Betye Saar attend 2018 LACMA Art + Film Gala honoring Catherine Opie and Guillermo del Toro presented by Gucci at LACMA on November 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
3021 Airport Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405, United States
Betye Saar arrives at the WACO Theater Center's 3rd Annual Wearable Art Gala at The Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport on June 1, 2019 in Santa Monica, California. Photo by Gregg DeGuire
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Betye Saar attends the 2019 LACMA 2019 Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Frazer Harrison
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States
(L-R) Alison Saar, Neil Lane and Betye Saar attend The J. Paul Getty Medal Dinner 2019 at The Getty Center on September 16, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States
(L-R) Alison Saar and Betye Saar attend The J. Paul Getty Medal Dinner 2019 at The Getty Center on September 16, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States
(L-R) Lisa Goodman, Betye Saar, and Jay-Z attend The Broad Museum celebration for the opening of Soul Of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 Art Exhibition at The Broad on March 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Randy Shropshire
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Betye Saar, (L) and LACMA Trustee, both wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
(L-R) Adrienne Edwards, LACMA Trustee Thelma Golden, and Betye Saar, wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Donato Sardella
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
(L-R) Betye Saar and Alessandro Michele, both wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
(L-R) Alfonso Cuaron, wearing Gucci, LACMA Trustee Eva Chow, wearing Gucci, Betye Saar, wearing Gucci, and LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director Michael Govan, wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
Gallery of Betye Saar
2019
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Betye Saar, wearing Gucci, speaks onstage during the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Emma McIntyre
600 State Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90037, United States
Betye Saar appears on the red carpet to be honored at 'An Artful Evening At CAAM' Gala on October 15, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Earl Gibson III
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States
(L-R) Alison Saar, Michael Govan, Director of LACMA and artist Betye Saar pose during the Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980 opening event held at the Getty Center on October 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Ryan Miller
600 State Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90037, United States
(L-R) Donald McKayle, Betye Saar and Herbie Hancock serve as honored guest for their lifetime achievements at 'An Artful Evening At CAAM' on October 15, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Earl Gibson III
250 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States
Artist Betty Saar attends the 2015 MOCA Gala presented by Louis Vuitton at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on May 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Honoree Catherine Opie, wearing Gucci, and Betye Saar attend 2018 LACMA Art + Film Gala honoring Catherine Opie and Guillermo del Toro presented by Gucci at LACMA on November 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
3021 Airport Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405, United States
Betye Saar arrives at the WACO Theater Center's 3rd Annual Wearable Art Gala at The Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport on June 1, 2019 in Santa Monica, California. Photo by Gregg DeGuire
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Betye Saar attends the 2019 LACMA 2019 Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Frazer Harrison
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States
(L-R) Alison Saar, Neil Lane and Betye Saar attend The J. Paul Getty Medal Dinner 2019 at The Getty Center on September 16, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States
(L-R) Alison Saar and Betye Saar attend The J. Paul Getty Medal Dinner 2019 at The Getty Center on September 16, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States
(L-R) Lisa Goodman, Betye Saar, and Jay-Z attend The Broad Museum celebration for the opening of Soul Of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 Art Exhibition at The Broad on March 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Randy Shropshire
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Betye Saar, (L) and LACMA Trustee, both wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
(L-R) Adrienne Edwards, LACMA Trustee Thelma Golden, and Betye Saar, wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Donato Sardella
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
(L-R) Betye Saar and Alessandro Michele, both wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
(L-R) Alfonso Cuaron, wearing Gucci, LACMA Trustee Eva Chow, wearing Gucci, Betye Saar, wearing Gucci, and LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director Michael Govan, wearing Gucci, attend the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stefanie Keenan
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Betye Saar, wearing Gucci, speaks onstage during the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented By Gucci at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Emma McIntyre
Betye Saar is an American artist. Her work consistently addresses issues of race, gender, and spirituality.
Background
Ethnicity:
Betye Saar is of Native American, Irish, and African descent.
Betye Saar was born on July 30, 1926 in Los Angeles, California, United States. She is a daughter of Jefferson Maze and Beatrice Lillian Parson. At the age of six, she moved to Pasadena, California, following the death of her father. Her mother worked as a seamstress and receptionist to support her family.
Education
Betye Saar attended public school in Pasadena and then enrolled at Pasadena City College. In 1949 she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in design from the University of California, Los Angeles.
During the early part of her career, Betye Saar worked as a costume designer in theater and film in Los Angeles. In graduate school, she mastered the techniques of graphics, printmaking, and design, but after seeing a Joseph Cornell exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1967 she turned to what would become her signature work: three-dimensional assemblage boxes.
Saar's encounter with Cornell's surrealist boxes led her away from her early, two-dimensional work in prints to her first landmark piece, "Black Girl's Window" (mixed media, 1969). Here Saar used Cornell-inspired elements like a segmented window and a surrealist combination of objects to explore issues of personal identity. The piece presents a black girl, possibly Saar, pressing her face and hands against a glass pane, surrounded by images of the occult.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, Saar's boxes reflected her political engagement with the civil rights movement by satirizing persistent derogatory images of African Americans. In "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" (1972), Saar appropriated the racist stereotype of Aunt Jemima by transforming her from a passive black female into a militant revolutionary. Her later work took on a more personal, autobiographical dimension, exploring her own mixed heritage and her spiritual beliefs. The death of her Aunt Hattie in particular pushed her work inward and inspired such nostalgic collages as "Keep for Old Memoirs" (1976), made from old family photographs and personal remnants such as gloves and handkerchiefs.
In 1974 Saar traveled to Haiti and Mexico on a National Endowment for the Arts grant, then to Nigeria for the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (1977). These trips, together with Saar's visits to the Egyptian, Oceanic, and African collections at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, resulted in a series of altarpieces (1975–1977) combining personal emblems with totems from African, Caribbean, and Asian cultures. "Dambella" (1975) contains obvious references to Haitian Vodou, with its ritualistic animal parts and snakeskin, whereas "Spiritcatcher" (1976 – 1977), with its spiral structure and found objects, recalls Simon Rodia's Watts Towers in Los Angeles, which Saar had visited as a child.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Saar continued to create assemblage boxes and collages while also experimenting with room-sized installations. As always, she worked in materials culled and recycled from foreign markets, thrift shops, or her own personal history; she intended these "found treasures" to stir emotion and personal or collective memories in the viewer. Her "Mojotech" installation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988) explored the relationship between technology and magic, creating hybrid altars out of high-tech elements like computer-system circuit boards as well as traditional religious objects.
Betye Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, and her work tackles racism through the appropriation and recontextualization of African-American folklore and icons, as seen in the seminal The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972), a wooden box containing a doll of a stereotypical "mammy" figure.
Views
Betye Saar was raised by her Aunt Hattie and she influenced her identity of a black women. She was also greatly influenced by Simon Rodia's Watts Towers and by sculptor Joseph Cornell.
Connections
On September 16, 1952 Betye Brown married Richard W. Saar. They have three children: Lesley Irene, Alison Marie, Tracye Annual. In 1968 they divorced.