Artist Betye Saar on Living in the Now

At 96, Betye Saar practices self-care through creativity, “whether it’s making a nice breakfast or making art,” she says. The Los Angeles–born artist is lauded for her assemblage technique, which borrows from her fascination with the metaphysical and the magical and reflects on African American identity and global cultures. Her work, including perhaps her most iconic piece, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972), can be found in over 60 museums worldwide, as well as in The Betye Saar Papers, a Getty Research Institute archive that surveys her career in its spectacular entirety. This month, Betye Saar: Black Doll Blues documents the artist’s lifelong interest in Black dolls in book form and features artworks, sketchbooks, and images of toys from her personal collection.

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Elizabeth Fazzare

October 6, 2022

A woman outside holding a wire frame. — 96-year-old artist Betye Saar. Photography by Tracye Saar-Cavanaugh.

What does endurance mean to your practice?

When I create an artwork, I want it to have the quality to endure, to have the same meaning or impact years later.

What, if anything, gets easier with time? What gets harder?

What is easy is getting up in the morning, getting dressed, and making art. What is hard is not wanting to wake up. I’m 96 after all.

Do you ever look back on your work?

I usually don’t make judgments on my past work. Then was then and now is now.

What's your relationship to art history? What do you hope it will ultimately be?

I don’t really think about how people regard me or my art. Some people consider me a feminist. Some people consider me a Black artist. Some a printmaker. Some an assemblage artist. These judgments are made by others, usually art historians or journalists. I make art for myself, to satisfy my own personal creative needs.

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