Browse Items (72 total)

While most of the works presented in this exhibition are print based items, this work demonstrates the multidisciplinary aspect of Betye Saar’s artistic practice. Creating connection between multiple surfaces is central to the artist’s methodology;…

Saar’s etching makes use of found objects in a relief printing process. Recalling her frequent use of assemblage and interest in Roma mysticism, the work pulls from common objects to conjure an occult atmosphere. The mottled and scratched dark…

Bookmarks in the Pages of Life is a collection of illustrations Saar made to accompany short stories by Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), a prolific author whose profoundly impactful works, such as Their Eyes Were Watching God (published in 1937),…

Betye Saar states: “The stars, the cards, the mystic vigil may hold the answers. By shifting the point of view an inner spirit is released. Free to create.” Saar places symbols in her mystic sky: the decorative mask represents “hidden identity and…

Betye Saar regards the sky as an important aspect of nature and expresses its mystical aspects through a careful manipulation of form. Her fantastical rendition of the sky in LA–Saar’s place of birth–cannot be confined to traditional rectangular and…

Saar’s gestural print of a girl jumping rope escapes the charm typically associated with childhood play, instead infusing the scene with the vigor of the child’s rapid movement. The smudges of ink at the girl’s feet evoke dust kicked up by the rope…

Much of Saar’s work explores the experiences of African American womanhood, emphasizing their independence. Here, a photographic image of a woman is situated on the edges of a cityscape while two men in colorful zoot suits stand contained within a…