Oral history interview with Betye Saar, 2008-2009.

Biographical Note

Artist.

Scope and Contents

Betye I. Saar (1926- ); early childhood in Los Angeles, California; family history in craftwork; reinterpretation of derogatory images of Southern black life; B.A. University of California, Los Angeles; graduate studies at California State University Long Beach; rise of feminist art and black art in 1960s and 1970s; influence Simon Rodia's Watt's Towers; Joseph Cornell assemblage; The Liberation of Aunt Jemima 1972; interest in more personal pieces with family memorabilia and women's trunks during 1980s; influence of mysticism and the occult in artwork; discussion of contemporary black art and craftwork; 1974 and 1984 Artist Fellowship National Endowment for the Arts.

Subjects

• African American artists.
• Civil rights movements.
• Feminism and art.
• Glueck, Grace H., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Printmakers.
• Saar, Betye--Interviews.
• Women artists--Interviews.

Access Conditions

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