Betye Saar (1926-present) continuously creates inventive, thought-provoking, and political pieces of art out of objects that she collects from all over the world. Her work has sparked entire social movements.
Betye Saar (1926-present) continuously creates inventive, thought-provoking, and political pieces of art out of objects that she collects from all over the world. Her work has sparked entire social movements.
History classes can get a bad wrap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Sundus Hassan, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, and Ale Tejeda. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
We are offering free ad space on Wonder Media Network shows to organizations working towards social justice. For more information, please email Jenny at pod@wondermedianetwork.com.
Follow Wonder Media Network:
To take the Womanica listener survey, please visit: https://wondermedianetwork.com/survey
Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. This is Womanica.
All month, we’re talking about visionaries.
Today, we’re talking about a woman who continuously creates inventive, thought-provoking, and political pieces of art out of objects that she collects from all over the world. Her work has sparked entire social movements.
Let’s talk about Betye Saar.
Betye was born in 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her father, who died when she was young, was a Sunday school teacher. Her mother was a devout Episcopalian. Later, Betye’s relationship to religion and spirituality would become an overarching theme in her work.
Betye graduated from The University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in interior design in 1949. After graduating, she quickly found a community of other designers and artists in Los Angeles. In 1951, she founded an enamel business with jewelry designer Curtis Tann.
In 1958, Betye decided to go back to school to learn how to teach design, and enrolled in California State University at Long Beach. Then, one day, she wandered into a printmaking class. Betye fell in love with the art form and her original plans vanished.
After diving into printmaking, she started experimenting with assemblage - an art form where she would assemble disparate objects together to form a cohesive whole.
Her work was heavily influenced by the political landscape at the time, responding to current events like the Watts rebellion in 1965 and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
At the height of this political moment, Betye produced ‘Black Girl’s Window’ in 1969. The piece was made out of a wooden window frame that Betye salvaged. Inside the panes of the window, there are a number of mystical icons - the moon and stars, the sun, a lion, an eagle, a novelty shop halloween skeleton. And at the bottom, in the largest pane, there is a silhouette of a Black girl. She has wide-open eyes, and her hands - dotted with yellow and red constellations - are pressed up against the window.
Betye’s assemblages grew and changed as time passed. In the early 70’s, she became inspired by artists from all over Africa who made pieces with organic matter - like feathers, dirt, and hair. She began traveling all over the world to collect objects for her assemblages - to Nigeria, Morocco, Haiti, Brazil, and beyond.
She also collected objects that were negative caricatures of Black people. She put those pieces in her work - imbuing them with new power.
In 1972, Betye created her piece titled ‘The Liberation of Aunt Jemima.’ To make it, she used a store-bought, Jim Crow-era mammy figure. The figurine was originally holding a kitchen notepad and pencil, but Betye replaced those with a Black power fist, and a rifle.
Pieces like ‘The Liberation of Aunt Jemima’ were intended to point out the ways that Black women were essential to the women’s liberation movement - in fact, Angela Davis described the piece as the spark that fired the Black women’s revolution.
Betye was deeply involved in liberation movements. She often used her art to highlight the intersections between race and gender.
In the 1970’s, she joined the female art collective Womanspace, where she was constantly pushing to make the collective more racially inclusive. She was also a vital figure in the Black power movement, working to make the space more inclusive to women.
As time went on, Betye’s stature in the art world grew. In 1975, she was invited to do a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. And in 1988 she was invited by the State Department to visit Asia on a cultural mission.
Today, Betye is 95 years old. Her work has finally been pushed to the forefront of national conversation. In 2019, she opened two solo shows - one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the other at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
And she is still creating more art. Her studio is bustling, chock full with objects such as alarm clocks, antique books, bird cages, and mammy dolls. Any one of them might just find their way into one of Betye’s assemblages someday.
All month, we’re honoring incredible, artistic visionaries.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. And another special thanks to Alesandra Tejeda who curated this month’s theme.
Talk to you tomorrow!