Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment

January 27 – April 29, 2007

Born in 1926 in Los Angeles, Betye Saar emerged in the 1960s as a powerful figure in American art by illuminating African American identity in her work.  Throughout her long career, Saar has made art addressing contemporary issues, especially the legacy of race in America, aiming to both challenge and engage viewers.  For the first time in Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment, art works spanning the breadth of her production reveal the development of her vision and message.

Betye Saar has always embraced a diverse range of political, creative, and spiritual influences—from the Civil Rights and feminist movements, to design, craft and a belief in personal destiny.  Her greatest achievement may well be her continuing relevance to new generations of artists, scholars and students.  In particular, Saar’s use of historical photo-portraiture of African American sitters lends her assemblages a complexity of meaning and visual richness that powerfully unites her wide ranging inspirations. These sepia-toned prints of family or anonymous individuals become newly imagined in Saar’s work, offering insight into the fabric of individual lives.  Saar’s desire to accumulate and reinvent stories by transforming photographs, controversial artifacts such as “black collectibles” and nostalgic bric-a-brac into art has resulted in works that stir the intellect and emotion. Ultimately, her sculptures and collages are essays on universal themes of longing and loss, the passage of time and the bonds between lovers, friends and family members.

Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment is organized and circulated by the University of Michigan Museum of Art.  It is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Henry Luce Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Peter Norton Family Foundation, and other generous donors.