Betye Saar Centennial 2026
Celebrating her 100th birthday on July 30, 2026, Betye Saar remains a defining voice in American art and cultural history. As Saar marks her centennial year, her profound contributions to American visual culture remain a testament to her enduring influence. Through her groundbreaking career, she has challenged conventions, uplifted marginalized voices, and reshaped the way America understands its history.
MoMA honors Betye Saar at their Party in the Garden
June 2, 2026
Betye Saar was honored at the Museum of Modern Art’s 2026 Party in the Garden, the institution’s annual benefit celebrating influential figures in art and culture. Held on June 2nd across MoMA and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, the evening brought together artists, patrons, and cultural leaders to support the museum’s exhibitions, collections, and educational initiatives while recognizing Saar’s extraordinary contributions to contemporary art.
Hammer Museum Honors Betye Saar at 21st Annual Gala in the Garden
May 2, 2026
The Hammer Museum at UCLA has announced that artist Betye Saar and television writer Darren Star will be honored at the 21st annual Gala in the Garden on Saturday, May 2, 2026. The Hammer’s annual event honors artists and innovators who have made profound contributions to society through their work. The museum’s largest fundraising event attracts cultural and civic leaders, artists, collectors, and patrons of the arts in Los Angeles to support the Hammer’s dynamic and internationally acclaimed exhibitions and public programs.
Betye Saar Legacy Group
A newly established curatorial group, initiated in summer 2025 by Betye Saar and her studio in collaboration with Roberts Projects, serves as a scholarly committee dedicated to preserving, interpreting and advancing Saar’s artistic legacy. Working closely with the artist, her studio and her longtime gallery, the Betye Saar Legacy Group provides 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, Independent Curator and Art Historian, Barcelona; Stephanie Seidel, Head of Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum Basel; and Zoé Whitley, Independent Curator and Art Historian, London.
Upcoming Biography
Authored by Zoé Whitley
On the occasion of Betye Saar's 100th birthday, Zoé Whitley has undertaken compiling a biography of the life of Betye Saar. The publication will be released in 2027.
Zoé Whitley, PhD is an award-winning American curator and writer who lives and works in London, UK. Named an honorary recipient of an OBE for Services to Art, she is a Fine Arts faculty member for the British School at Rome. Whitley led the vanguard arts space Chisenhale Gallery as Director (2020-2025). Projects span exhibitions and publications at the V&A (2003-2013); Studio Museum in Harlem (2013-14); Tate Britain (2013-15); Tate Modern (2014-19, notably co-curating Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power); and the Hayward Gallery (2019), as well as curating the British Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale. Whitley is a trustee of Teiger Foundation and Sir John Soane’s Museum. Editor of solid!, the comprehensive Barkley L. Hendricks monograph. Whitley is also a member of the Betye Saar Legacy Group.
New Publication
Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar
Published by Roberts Projects, 2026
Organized around Betye Saar’s early career in costume and jewelry design during the 1960s and 1970s, Let’s Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar explores how this formative period profoundly shaped her pioneering work in assemblage and installation. Through and original drawings, essays, archival materials and installation images, Let’s Get It On traces Saar’s evolution from designer to artist, revealing the enduring connections between her wearable creations and her broader visual language.
Featuring newly commissioned scholarship alongside rare photographs, sketches, jewelry, garments, and ephemera from Saar’s personal archives, the catalogue offers fresh insight into the artist’s lifelong engagement with materials, memory, and Black cultural expression. Let’s Get It On provides an invaluable resource for understanding the full scope of Saar’s creative practice and her influence across generations.
100 Fun Facts About Betye Saar
1. Her parents met as students while attending UCLA.
2. Her father, who was from Louisiana, passed away when she was four years old.
3. She has two younger sisters, Jeffalyn (known as “Jai”) and Sharon, and a younger brother Robert.
4. Her mother, Beatrice, was known for propagating and showcasing African Violets.
5. She learned to sew from her mother, who made supplemental income as a seamstress.
6. Betye’s favorite dessert is lemon meringue pie, which her mother used to make on her birthday as a child.
7. As a child living with her grandmother in Watts, she saw Simon Rodia construct his famous Watts Towers.
8. Living in Watts during the 1930 Long Beach earthquake and watching her mother’s response taught her how to handle fear and move through difficult things.
9. As a young girl, Betye had an imaginary friend named Rosie. She later made a work about this titled About Rosie, for Rosie.
10. She was greatly influenced by her Great-Aunt Hattie who was a schoolteacher and service worker, and made many artworks inspired by her.
11. Was fascinated by the nomadic gypsy communities in Pasadena in the 60’s which drew her towards fortunetelling symbolism in her work.
12. Often references the idea of “mojo” in her body of work, taken from the blues song, “I Got My Mojo Working.”
13. In middle school, she was a member of the reading club at La Pintoresca Library in Pasadena.
14. Her stepfather was from Texas and came into her life when she was in junior high.
15. She was 18 years-old when her sister Sharon was born.
16. During her teenage years in Pasadena, Jackie Robinson was the paperboy on her street.
17. She and her sister Jai performed at social events as a tap-dancing duo called the Brown Girls.
18. During college, she worked as a metal deburrer to support the WWII effort.
19. Several of her classmates were pulled from school and sent to Japanese Internment Camps during WWII.
20. As a student at Pasadena City College (PCC), she won competitions for her Rose Parade float designs.
21. She received a scholarship to UCLA, where she earned a degree in Applied Arts.
22. She was in the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority at UCLA.
23. She vividly remembers when it snowed in Los Angeles in 1949.
24. She met her husband, Richard Saar, at an art fair where he was selling his ceramics and she was selling her enamels.
25. Her wedding ring was designed by J. Arnold Frew.
26. In 1951, she started an enamel business with artist Curtis Tann called Brown and Tann.
27. Used to own a 1950s MG Magnette.
28. Purchased her Laurel Canyon home from famed costume designer Theodora Van Runkle.
29. Covered the front gate of her house with cut-out tin shapes and logos, fascinating friends and family.
30. Was a belly dancer at the original Renaissance Faire at Paramount Ranch in the 1960’s.
31. Holds a certificate in Silva Mind Control.
32. Occasionally smoked Nat Sherman cigarettes at cocktail parties in her 30s.
33. In the 1960s her neighbors included Boris Karloff and Frank Zappa.
34. Briefly grew marijuana on her back hill during her hippie years.
35. Sister Sharon worked at JPL/NASA for 26 years.
36. Her sister Jeffalyn served on an advisory panel for President Jimmy Carter.
37. Met former Vice-President Walter Mondale.
38. Began making assemblage art after seeing Joseph Cornell’s exhibition at the Pasadena Museum in 1967.
39. Has kept consummate records of her artwork and career for over 60 years.
40. She taught film at Pasadena Film School in 1971and created films, including Colored Spade and Eyeball.
41. Learned analogue filmmaking at the American Film Institute (AFI).
42. Designed costumes for the Inner City Cultural Center starting in the late 1960’s and the Napa Valley Theater Company.
43. Began studying printmaking at CSU Long Beach simply because she loved the smell of the ink.
44. Was a member of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society (LAPS), founded in 1962. Saar was one of the youngest and earliest invited members of the group.
45. Had vibrant purple and pink hair during the 1980s.
46. In 1984, she designed textile patterns featuring fans, fish, dice, and other symbols at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia.
47. Learned to swim in her 60s.
48. Enjoys Drumstick ice cream cones.
49. Took up tango lessons in her 70s.
50. She was the first Black woman to be an artist-in-residence at MIT.
51. Designed album covers for her brother-in-law, jazz musician Benny Maupin.
52. Created book covers and illustrations for writer Ishmael Reed.
53. Believes that making mistakes provides a wonderful opportunity to try something again.
54. Likes to say, “As long as you’re doing something creative, you’ll be fine.”
55. Has an extensive log of her dreams.
56. Has completed over 100 sketchbooks filled with drawings, collage, and watercolor.
57. Created a computer game called Digital Griot in 1998.
58. An avid traveler, she has visited the Great Wall of China, stood on an Alaskan glacier, and had a wild monkey sit on her head in Kuala Lumpur.
59. Has seen most of the world's pyramids.
60. Visited Morocco solo in 1968.
61. Rode a camel in Egypt in the 1980s.
62. Once stayed in Henri Matisse's former house in France.
63. Regrets not being able to visit India.
64. Had a beloved black pug named Miz Mojo, whom she once took to the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Maine.
65. Taught a postcard art class and still regularly exchanges cards with fellow artists.
66. Hosts regular family Valentine-making parties, sharing her signature red art supplies.
67. Is a very big fan of museum gift shops and her favorite is the Huntington Library’s.
68. Devoted fan of Dr Pepper; her go to cocktail is a 'Dr. Brown' (Dr. Pepper & Bourbon).
69. Prefers milk chocolate over dark chocolate.
70. Her go-to order at In-N-Out is a cheeseburger Animal Style, fries, and a vanilla shake.
71. Always hated tapioca pudding, famously referring to it as “fish eyes in glue.”
72. Loves to tend a fireplace.
73. Frequently collects rusty objects off the street.
74. Still hunts for treasures at the monthly PCC swap meet
75. Collects vintage Memory Jugs, Tramp Art boxes, and cigarette/gum paper frames.
76. Enjoys wearing animal prints, particularly cheetah and leopard.
77. Owns an extensive collection of watches—but never wears one.
78. Her favorite time is always “Right Now,” choosing to fully appreciate the present moment.
79. A Leo who loves to bask in the sun.
80. Loves to beachcomb for snake-shaped driftwood.
81. Has a tattoo of a crescent and a sun on her left shoulder.
82. Is left-handed.
83. Severely allergic to shellfish.
84. Created several public works projects including a mural in the Dr. Martin Luther King Railway Station in Miami Florida featuring silhouettes of people filled with energy.
85. Binge-watched Bridgerton with her daughter while recovering from COVID-19.
86. Has a soft spot for Anderson Cooper.
87. Enjoys watching her grandkids play Minecraft, which she visually connects to Cubism.
88. Watched all of Game of Thrones and will watch any part of the movie Victor/Victoria.
89. Cats are drawn to her, though the feeling is definitely not mutual.
90. Unafraid of snakes and frequently uses their imagery in her artwork.
91. Travels with a heating pad regardless of the season.
92. Has created over 30 art installations centered around canoes or boats.
93. Awarded the Harvard W.E.B. Du Bois Medal in 2022 alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Agnes Gund, and Laverne Cox.
94. Her good friend Helen Hughes donated their lifelong correspondence to Bowdoin College.
95. Has a 26 year-old red-footed tortoise named Rojo.
96. Remains a dedicated fan of UCLA basketball.
97.Instead of calling it a birthday, she refers to it as “another revolution around the sun”.
98. Kerry James Marshall was her student at Otis Institute of Art and Design
99. In 1977 she attended FESTAC (the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture) in Lagos, Nigeria as a member of the United States delegation, which included Audre Lorde, Faith Ringgold and Sun Ra, among many others.
100. Betye has said that, had she not become an artist, she would be a writer of poetry