- About
- Visit
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Exhibition
- Artists
- Digital Catalogue
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Essays
- Meeting in the Moment: The Black Feminism of Faith Ringgold and Betye Saar in the 1960s and Beyond
- Power to the People Faith Ringgold’s Black Panther Posters
- An Imprint of Histories from the Artists’ Studio Windows
- Betye Saar and Faith Ringgold: Printing New Possibilities at The Fabric Workshop and Museum
- Timeline
- Artworks
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Virtual Tour
- Matterport Tour of Exhibition
- Introduction to exhibition
- Betye Saar "Untitled"
- Betye Saar, "Now You Cookin’ with Gas,"
- Betye Saar, "The Long Memory"
- Faith Ringgold, "Committee to Defend the Panthers"
- Faith Ringgold, "Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham City Jail"
- Faith Ringgold, "You Put the Devil in Me "
- Faith Ringgold, "Declaration of Freedom and Independence"
- Store
- Media
Artist Biographies
Faith Ringgold
“Faith Ringgold, born 1930 in Harlem, New York is a painter, sculptor, teacher, activist and author of numerous award-winning children’s books… Known for her oil paintings from the 1960s and [her] narrative painted story quilts, [Ringgold] created a body of work in the 1970s that reflected [her] political activism and her personal story within the context of the women’s movement. Faith Ringgold was one of a very small group of Black women who helped galvanize the Black and Feminist Art Movements in New York in the 1970s. This body of work, including tankas and soft sculptures, led to Faith Ringgold’s painted story quilts. Ringgold’s first story quilt Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? was created in 1983 as a way of publishing her unedited words. The addition of text to Ringgold’s quilted paintings has developed into a unique medium and style all her own… Faith Ringgold is as important to the overall culture of America as she is to the specifics of contemporary American art. From her earliest breakthroughs during the turbulent decade of the 1960s and continuing into the new millennium, Faith Ringgold maintains her stature as a creative and cultural force. She is a role model for artists and scholars and continues to influence and inspire others.” (1)
Betye Saar
“As one of the artists who ushered in the development of Assemblage art, Betye Saar’s practice reflects on African American identity, spirituality and the connectedness between different cultures. Her symbolically rich body of work has evolved over time to demonstrate the environmental, cultural, political, racial, technological, economic, and historical context in which it exists. For over six decades, Saar has created assemblage works that explore the social, political, and economic underpinnings of America’s collective memory. She began her career at the age of 35 producing work that dealt with mysticism, nature, and family. Saar’s art became political in the 1970’s namely with the assemblage The Liberation of Aunt Jemima in 1972. As did many of the women who came to consciousness in the 1960’s, Saar takes on the feminist mantra “the personal is political” as a fundamental principle in her assemblage works. Her appropriation of black collectibles, heirlooms, and utilitarian objects are transformed through subversion, and yet given her status as a pioneer of the Assemblage movement, the impact of Saar’s oeuvre on contemporary art has yet to be fully acknowledged or critically assessed. Among the older generation of Black American artists, Saar is without reproach and continues to both actively produce work and inspire countless others.” (2)
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(1) https://www.acagalleries.com/artist/Faith_Ringgold/biography/