Mystic Sky with Self-Portrait
Betye Saar
- 1992
- Color offset lithograph with collage and construction
- Image/sheet: 21¼ x 25¼ "
- 2009-61-72
About the Print
From the Artist
There has been an apparent thread in my art that weaves from early prints of the 1960s through later collages and assemblages and ties into the current installations. That thread is a curiosity about the mystical.
I am intrigued with combining the remnant of memories, fragments of relics and ordinary objects, with the components of technology. It’s a way of delving into the past and reaching into the future simultaneously. The art itself becomes the bridge.
Curiosity
about the unknown
has no boundaries.
Symbols, images, place and cultures merge.
time slips away.
The stars, the cards, the mystic vigil
may hold the answers.
By shifting the point of view
an inner spirit is released.
Free to create.
—From http://www.betyesaar.net/gal/gallery.html#fourth, accessed 7-5-2021
Betye Saar’s work is intertwined with explorations of world religions, astrology, and mysticism. Saar used objects and symbols of personal significance in Mystic Sky with Self Portrait, 1992, a seven-color offset with collage in an edition of 100, such as celestial planets, a crescent moon, dice, a pyramid, and stars moving toward a flaming heart in the center of the print on a blue backdrop. Her self-portrait shows the artist looking inward, inviting the viewer to enter her spiritual realm. “I realized that by changing the function of the objects, I could transform information and work magic,” Saar says. With its collaged shooting stars and a cosmic array of imagery, including a pair of dice (fate/fortune), a flaming heart (spiritual love), an eye in a pyramid (God’s all-seeing eye), and a floating mask, Saar’s interest in spirituality and symbolism is evident in this artwork (hidden identity and magic). Saar peers out from the bottom corner, an open hand (is it hers?) reaching for the warmth of a red, blazing sun. Her palm is adorned with a miniature moon and sun, as well as the Greek letter omega (the ultimate culmination of all). Across this orderly, personal universe, dynamic images of power and identity tilt and align.
—Adapted from Brandywine Workshop and Archives records and “Fresh, Human and Personal: Signature of Brandywine Workshop,” Three Decades of American Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection (Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2004)
Let's Look
- What kind of mood does this work evoke? Happy, sad, upbeat, threatening ... ?
- What objects has Saar included? What meanings do you associate with them?
- What does th is self-portrait reveal about the artist? What makes you think that?
- What objects would you put in your self-portra it? What do they symbolize?
American Born Los Angeles, 1926
Photograph by Jacob Wheeler. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
About the Artist
Betye Saar is a printmaker, sculptor, and collage and assemblage artist born in Los Angeles, CA. She earned a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and pursued graduate studies at California State University, Long Beach; California State University, Northridge; and the American Film Institute, Los Angeles.
Saar’s work is in public collections including the Detroit Institute of Arts; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art and Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City; and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her works are also featured in the traveling exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.
Saar lives and works in Los Angeles. The Getty Museum’s Getty Research Initiative has acquired Saar’s career archives as part of a major initiative to collect, study, and disseminate African American art history.
—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records
Curriculum Connections
Suggested Topics for Art Projects, Group Discussion, and Independent Writing
Art
Symbolic Self-Portrait
Symbols are crucial in communicating ideas. They can be representational or abstract. Brainstorm symbols that have personal meaning for you, and translate them into a collage to create a self-portrait made entirely of symbols.
Assemblage
Betye Saar is well known for her assemblages. Make a shoe-box assemblage based on your childhood memories. Arrange a display of drawings, photographs, or magazine pictures and objects inside the box to capture the spirit of your recollections. For more inspiration, look at assemblages by the American artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) as well as those by Saar (www.betyesaar.net).
Language Arts
List Poem
A list poem is made from a list of words. Create a list poem inspired by something you like, maybe your favorite piece of music, food, sport, or emotion. Brainstorm nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and short phrases that describe it and why it is important to you. Remember to include details. Using the list, arrange the words and phrases into a poem. It can be any length and can rhyme or not.
In Your Opinion
Consider Saar's quote (page 8) about her artwork . In your opinion, does Mystic Sky with Self-Portrait reflect the spirit of her words? How? If not, why not?
Social Studies
Speak out
In her artwork, Saar challenges the myths and stereotypes that she has faced as an African American woman. Explore her works (www.betyesaar.net) and see how she has expressed her political and social views. Research how the world has responded.