biographie de Betye SAAR (1926)

Birth place: Pasadena, CA

Addresses: Los Angeles, CA

Profession: Painter, collage artist, printmaker, designer

Studied: UCLA (B.A., 1949); Univ. Southern Calif.; Long Beach State Col., 1956; San Fernando Valley State Col.

Exhibited: Dickson Art Center, 1966; BMFA, 1968; MoMA, 1968; High Mus., Atlanta; NJ State Mus., 1968; Contemporary Arts Mus., Houston, 1968; 25 Calif Women of Art, Lytton Ctr. Visual Art, Los Angeles, 1968; Oakland Mus., 1969; SFMA, 1969; Dimensions of Black, La Jolla Fine Arts Mus., Calif, 1970; Pasadena WC Soc., 1970 (Purchase award); Santa Barbara Mus. of Art, 1970; Sculpture Ann., 1970 & Contemporary Black Artists in America, 1971, WMAA, 1970; LOC; Black Artists Invitational, LACMA, 1972; Calif. State Col., Los Angeles, 1972 (purchase award for Small Images); Downy Mus. Art, 1972 (purchase award); LACMA, 1975 (solo)

Work: Univ. Mass., Amherst; Wellington Evest Coll., Boston, Mass.; Golden State Mutual Life Ins. Coll., Los Angeles, Calif.; LACMA; Oakland Mus.; Home Savings & Loan Art Coll., Los Angeles.

Comments: Saar began making assembled boxes in the late 1960s, creating a number in which she incorporated mystical and occult symbols and objects, drawn from African and Oceanic cultures. After the death of Martin Luther King in 1968, Saar produced a group of militant works in which she incorporated racial slurs and stereotypical images found in commercial products and white folklore. The most well-known of these was The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" (1972, Univ. Art Mus., Berkeley, CA). Saar also created a series of boxes, nostalgic in nature, related to black culture. Positions: costume designer, Inner City Cult. Ctr., Los Angeles, 1968-71. Teaching: vis. artist, Calif. State Univ., Hayward, fall 1971; professor, Otis-Parsons Inst., Los Angeles, 1975-. Publications: auth., Handbook (1967).

Sources: WW73; Rubinstein, American Women Artists, 418-20; "Black Talent Speaks," Los Angeles Fine Arts/FM Mag. (Jan., 1967); "Scatterly Talents," Arts Mag. (1968); Lewis & Waddy, "Black Artist on Art," Contemp. Crafts (1969); Cederholm, Afro-American Artists.