How Betye Saar Set Black Dolls Free
An exhibition at the New York Historical, on view through October 4, spotlights Betye Saar’s collection of Black dolls and marks her promised gift of more than 100 dolls to the institution as she approaches her 100th birthday. Saar (born 1926) began collecting Black dolls after encountering an Amosandra doll in 1949 and later incorporated such figures into assemblages that critique racist imagery, including “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima” (1972), “Indigo Mercy” (1975), and the print “Aunt Jemima and Hoo Doo Doll” (1972). Co-curators Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto and Rebecca Klassen said the dolls—some handmade, some manufactured, and some reflecting derogatory stereotypes—are among the few studio objects Saar cannot discard. The article also notes that during the COVID-19 pandemic Saar began painting the dolls in watercolor scenes, a medium she had rarely used previously.
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This story was covered in Auction Fever, Art’s Lost-and-Found Reckoning