A life in brief
Artist Betye Saar, whose work reflects Black identity, dies at 99
Compiled Aug 3
99
Artist Betye Saar died Sunday morning in Los Angeles at age 99.
- 1968The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, triggering rage in Saar that led to her later work.
- 1969Saar creates 'Black Girl's Window.'
- 1972Saar creates 'The Liberation of Aunt Jemima.'
- 1975Saar's work is exhibited in a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
- 2019LACMA and MoMA mount concurrent solo shows of Saar's work; MoMA acquires 'Black Girl's Window.'
- 2020Quaker Oats announces it will retire its Aunt Jemima brand.
- 2023A documentary on Saar's life, 'Betye Saar: Ready to Be A Warrior,' is produced.
- spring 2026Saar is inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
“Her symbolically rich body of work has evolved over time to demonstrate the environmental, cultural, political, racial, technological, economic, and historical context in which it exists.”