Betye Saar
A newly established curatorial group—initiated by Betye Saar in collaboration with Roberts Projects—will serve as a scholarly committee dedicated to preserving, interpreting and advancing Saar’s profound artistic legacy. Working closely with the artist, her studio and her longtime gallery, the Betye Saar Legacy Group will provide expert guidance on Saar’s decades-long practice and her impact on contemporary art history.
The Legacy Group includes Esther Adler, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Carlo Barbatti, Exhibition Curator, Fondazione Prada, Milan; Christophe Cherix, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (Director as of September 2025); Carol S. Eliel, Senior Curator Emerita, Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles; Mark Godfrey, Independent Curator and Art Historian, London; Diana Seave Greenwald, William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; Elvira Dyangani Ose, Director, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Stephanie Seidel, Monica and Blake Grossman Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and Zoé Whitley, Independent Curator and Art Historian, London.
The idea for the Legacy Group emerged organically in response to Saar’s decades-long practice of accumulating objects and materials used in her assemblages. Saar has also extensively collected documents and images and maintained numerous work ledgers and journals that offer invaluable insight into her life as an artist, teacher and mother. Following the 2016 exhibition Betye Saar: Uneasy Dancer at Fondazione Prada, Roberts Projects initiated a comprehensive effort to digitize Saar’s archive. This ongoing project aims to create an accessible resource for scholars and curators, with the ultimate intention of housing the archive at the Getty Research Institute (GRI) as part of its African American Art History Initiative.
To date, Saar’s archive has supported the development of multiple landmark exhibitions including Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, at Tate Modern in 2017, Betye Saar: Call and Response, at Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2019, Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl’s Window, at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2019, Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami in 2021 and Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston in 2023.
The first confirmed publication to draw from Saar’s archive—a biography by Zoé Whitley, to be published by DelMonico Books in 2027—represents a major step in chronicling the artist’s legacy. Additionally, Roberts Projects has been developing a comprehensive catalogue raisonné of Saar’s work since 2016.
Saar has stated, “I am very excited about the formation of the Betye Saar Legacy Group. Over the years I have worked with all of the members and they each have gathered a unique bit of know-how, a particular insight, about my creative process. I look forward to future projects with this special group of individuals that I consider not just colleagues but also my friends.”
About Betye Saar (b. 1926, Los Angeles)
A pioneering figure in the development of assemblage art, Betye Saar has long explored African American identity, spirituality and the interconnectedness of diverse cultures through her work. Reflecting the complex and ever-changing nature of the world around her, Saar’s practice is singular in its ability to bring together disparate themes and heterogeneous materials to generate new meanings and sensibilities. Her deep curiosity about the mystical dimensions of life is matched by a commitment to the feminist principle that “the personal is political,” a guiding force throughout her career. By appropriating objects ranging from Black collectibles and family heirlooms to commercial imagery and everyday tools, Saar reveals the intertwinement of the personal with the social, the intimate with the historical.
ARTnews
To Celebrate Turning 99, Betye Saar Assembles an All-Star Group to Steward Her Legacy
by Alex Greenberger
July 29, 2025
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For additional information regarding Betye Saar, please visit robertsprojectsla.com or contact Mary Skarbek, Senior Director at 1.323.549.0223 and mary@robertsprojectsla.com.
PRESS INQUIRIES
For press inquiries, please reach out to the team at ALMA.
Photo: Betye Saar, courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Photo: David Butow