Style Imitating Art…
Welcome back to my interpretation of a shocking yet powerful piece of art. Salazar, Shelbee, and I are the curators. You can think of this series as fashion meets art museum! SIA challenges people to find inspiration in different art works, create looks based upon that art work, and share them with the curator for that piece. Shelbee is this week’s curator with this amazing piece of art. I hope you enjoy this post, the information, and my interpretation.
How it works…
Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. We then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, we share our outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. Shelbee chose this week’s art work for this round of Style Imitating Art. If you’d like, you can read why she chose it here. Please send your photo to Shelbee by Tuesday, January 27th, 2026 by 10 pm EST. Style Imitating Art is an interesting way to inspire your outfits. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here.
The artist…
Rarely have I researched and written about an artist who unsettles yet intrigues me the way Betye Saar has done. I was severely conflicted about this piece of art and thought for a long time about just not participating in this Style Imitating Art challenge. After reading just a bit about both Saar and the artwork, I knew I had to participate if only to learn more about this Black female artist who made a huge difference in the US Black Arts Movement in the 1970s. I am grateful Shelbee selected this piece so I could learn more about items that were around during my childhood…things I saw regularly and thought nothing about. I lost a couple of subscribers after the initial Style Imitating Art post. I hope I don’t lose any more of you as you read this post. I believe Betye Saar, her beliefs, and her art to be very important to our country, especially in these times.
More…
Betye Irene Brown was born in Los Angeles on July 30, 1926. Her parents attended the University of California, Los Angeles. When her father died in 1931, the family moved to the Watts neighborhood to live with her paternal grandmother. They later moved to Pasadena to live her maternal great-aunt Hatte Parson Keys and her husband, Robert E. Keys. Her experience as a Black person in California was middle class. She did, however, see the difference when she lived, for a time, in Watts.
“When asked about the politics behind her art in a 2015 interview with writer Shelley Leopold, Saar stated, “I don’t know how politics can be avoided. If you happen to be a young Black male, your parents are terrified that you’re going to be arrested—if they hang out with a friend, are they going to be considered a gang? That kind of fear is one you have to pay attention to. It’s not comfortable living in the United States. I’m born in Los Angeles, with middle class parents and so I never really had to be in a situation that tense. My grandmother lived in Watts and it’s still really poor down there. People just do the best they can (source).”
Still more…
Saar began her college education at Pasadena City College with art classes which continued at the University of California, Los Angeles when she received a tuition award from an organization that raised funds to send minority students to universities. In 1947, Saar earned her B.A. in design. She pursued graduate studies at California State University, Long Beach, University of Southern California, California State University, Northridge, and the American Film Institute. At this time, she believed she would have a career in teaching design. While she was in graduate school, she married Richard Saar and had three daughters, Tracye, Alison, and Lezley, the latter two also artists.
Even more…
Saar worked as a social worker before pursuing her artistic passions. Her first foray into artistic impression was in printmaking. From an early age, Saar had collected ephemera and arranged it into little pieces of art. As she grew older, she began gathering items with racist imagery. In 1967, She attended an exhibition by Joseph Cornell, a found object sculptor. She began to create her own “assemblages,” a term some say was created by Pablo Picasso. Basically, an assemblage is “art that is made by assembling disparate elements – often everyday objects – scavenged by the artist or bought specially (source).”
Still more…
One of the women who raised Saar and framed her reference to the Black female body was her Aunt Hattie. Saar described her great-aunt as “a woman with dignity and poise, which impacted her depiction of the Black female body.” She dedicated Record for Hattie (1972) to her aunt. For a time, Saar’s artistic focus was on the Black male, but in the 1970s, she shifted to the Black female body as a rejection of white feminism. She did so because she saw that the White feminist movement was just that…White. This movement didn’t address the issues of race nor the fetishization and eroticization of the Black female body. Saar’s work was a way of reclaiming the Black female body. Her work can be seen as the result of the junction of Black power, spirituality and mysticism, and feminism. Again, this can be seen in Record for Hattie.
Even more…
During the 60s, Saar started collecting images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo as well as other stereotypical images of African American figures from both folk culture and advertising of the Jim Crow era. She began to create assemblages and collages which then became statements of political and social protest. Saar arranged found objects within boxes or windows. She chose objects reflecting her own mixed heritage of African American, Irish, and Native American. While it may seem Saar is not a feminist, this couldn’t be further from the truth. She instead wants her pieces to emphasize the elements of cross-culturalism and spirituality. During the early 70s, Saar experienced racism within that White feminist arts movement. Again, this just pushed her into promoting a Black consciousness that was separate from the Black power politics of the same era. Because her depictions of Black womanhood don’t showcase eroticism no do they represent the body in an explicit way, they demonstrate her resistance to a specific image of the Black body which, in turn shows her rejection of white feminism and the “feminine aesthetic” of the time which was that of White feminists which was grounded in female sexuality.
Finally…
There is so much more to be known about Betye Saar. Rather than putting it into my words, I have decided to list several resources you can check out. She is still going strong, creating art and exhibiting her art. I’m also including a couple videos because, if you’re like me, you enjoy hearing a person talk about their work. This article goes into more detail about why Saar created The Liberation of Aunt Jemima and also includes a photo of the assemblage about Saar’s Aunt Hattie. Here is another resource giving more information about the art and a little about Saar. This article is more information about the political aspects of the art.
The artwork…
The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is an assemblage that measures 11.75 x 8 x 2.75 in (29.9 x 20.3 x 6.1 cm). It is made up of several different images and found objects including a notepad holder, a postcard, a gun, and several other items. It is in the collection at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and is not currently on display. Saar created it in 1972 after being invited to exhibit at the “Black Contributions” invitational held at the Rainbow Sign in Berkeley, California.
My interpretation…
I really struggled with this piece. I know I say that all the time. But, this time the struggle was in deciding just how to interpret the art. Do I go literal as I have done at times? Or, do I go with my gut feelings? I also considered dressing as I have seen several Black women I know at the museum. In the end, I don’t know that I did either of those things. I am wearing a dress from Gudrun Sjödén. I believe it’s from last winter. I thought the bodice mirrored the rectangular shape of the art as well as the postcard in the foreground. The dress also has flowers which, if they were white, would mimic the cotton balls at the base of the assemblage. I added a pink slip because it’s cold here. And, yes, my Christmas tree is still up. I just haven’t asked one of my boys to come over to help me with it. My photos are inside because we are getting snow, glorious snow! We have gotten more than ten inches of snow. Unfortunately, it’s also drastically cold so Jack doesn’t want to go out and play in it.
The Lewk!
I know, I know! I’m wearing my new Miz Mooz Leighton boots in black. I wore them for a tour at the museum on Saturday and wore them for well over three hours. No breaking in time necessary for these lovelies! I may splurge the next time Nordstrom does a triple points day and buy a second pair of them and the Ocean color as well as maybe a fun color. They’re a bit of an investment, but they are well worth it. I will be wearing these for decades. The pearl necklace and earrings are from LS Ayres (that’s how old they are) which is now Macy’s and were an anniversary gift from Nigel.
Wrap it up, Marsha!
I’ll be honest. I had big reservations about this piece. But, I also knew Shelbee selected this to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After reading about Betye Saar, her ideas, and listening to her speak about the piece, I am glad to be presenting this powerful piece of art. So, can we talk? Have you ever heard of an assemblage? How do you feel about this piece of art? How would you have interpreted it? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as I can.
Don’t forget…
If you want to be included in the Style Imitating Art round up, send Shelbee your photo by 10:00 pm EST, Tuesday, January 27th. Photos of everyone participating will appear on her blog on Wednesday, January 28th! If you’re interested in joining us, consider all of your options…the colors, the textures, the feelings they evoke! Come on, give it a try! I think you’ll love it!
Thank you!
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.
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Where you can find me:
Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!
It’s interesting that you thought about not participating in this challenge.
When I did a quick search as mentioned in my comment, my first thought was that I wanted to know more about the artwork, the background, the inspiration – thank you for providing that – and the second one that I would rather see a post about the artwork standing alone without the connection to fashion.
Please don’t think I’m judging, I wouldn’t even have said it without you saying you weren’t sure about it.
Very interesting and an inspirational artist.