Betye Saar: The Liberation Of Aunt Jemima

The Liberation of Aunt Jemima
Rosalind Horton
ART110 Introduction to Art
10 February 2017 Betye Saar is an artist and educator born July 30, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. She grew up during the depression and learned as a child to recycle and reuse items. As a child, she and her siblings would go on “treasure hunts” in her grandmother’s backyard finding items that they thought were beautiful or interesting. With these items, Saar would make her own toys and gifts for her family. This was her first glimpse into the art world that she would later use to make her first piece of significant art (Saar, n.d). Betye Saar began her official study of art in 1945 at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) focusing on
After a break from education, she returned to school in 1958 at California State University Long Beach to pursue a teaching career, graduating in 1962. While studying at Long Beach, she was introduced to the print making art form. It was not until the end of the 1960’s that Saar’s work moved into the direction of assemblage art. Lazzari and Schlesier (2012) described assemblage art as a style of art that is created when found objects, or already existing objects, are incorporated into pieces that forms the work of art. It was in this form of art that Saar created her signature piece called The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. The Liberation of Aunt Jemima assemblage piece was created in 1972, on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement. An adult living in California during this movement, Saar was a single parent of three kids. "As a
The focal point of this work is Aunt Jemima. Her look is what gets the attention of the viewer. The accents, the gun, the grenade, the postcard and the fist, brings the viewer in for a closer look. Although the emphasis is on Aunt Jemima, the accents in the art tell the different story. Unity and Variety. The objects used in this piece are very cohesive. If you did not know the original story, you would not necessarily feel that the objects were out of place. The variety in this work is displayed using the different objects to change the meaning. The broom and the rifle provides contrast and variety. The white cotton balls on the floor with the black fist protruding upward also provides variety to this work. The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is a work of art intended to change the role of the negative stereotype associated with the art produced to represent African-Americans throughout our early history. This piece was to re-introduce the image and make it one of empowerment. Although the sight of the image, at first, still takes you to a place when the world was very unkind, the changes made to it allows the viewer to see the strength and power