Skip to content
Back to top Back to Artists«

Betye Saar (b.1926)


1 of 5
Girl with Doll, 1964 brown ink and wash on paper m...

Girl with Doll, 1964
brown ink and wash on paper mounted on illustration board
18 3/4 x 20 7/8 inches / 47.6 x 53 cm
15 x 16 1/2 inches / 38.1 x 41.9 cm sight size
signed and dated

My Last Buffalo, 1973 mixed media assemblage with...
My Last Buffalo, 1973
mixed media assemblage with bone, plastic beads, leather, feathers and paper
13 3/8 x 11 1/8 x 1 1/8 inches / 34 x 28.3 x 2.9 cm
signed
Victory of Gentleness (For Rosa Parks), 1975 mixed...

Victory of Gentleness (For Rosa Parks), 1975
mixed media assemblage
13 3/8 x 11 1/8 x 1 3/4 inches / 34 x 28.3 x 4.4 cm

El Diablito, 1981 mixed media collage on handkerch...

El Diablito, 1981
mixed media collage on handkerchief
11 1/4 x 12 inches / 28.6 x 30.5 cm
signed and dated

Dr. Damballa Ju Ju, 1989 mixed media assemblage 47...

Dr. Damballa Ju Ju, 1989
mixed media assemblage
47 x 18 x 17 1/2 inches / 119.4 x 45.7 x 44.5 cm


Exhibitions


New & Noteworthy

Edward MacDowell Medal Ceremony, August 10, 2014

Edward MacDowell Medal Ceremony, August 10, 2014

at The MacDowell Colony, Free and Open to the Public

Download PDF

Press Release: Betye Saar to receive 2014 Edward M...

Press Release: Betye Saar to receive 2014 Edward MacDowell Medal; exhibition at the Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, NH

Download PDF

The MacDowell Colony newsletter, Summer 2014

The MacDowell Colony newsletter, Summer 2014

Download PDF

ArtNews, June 2014

ArtNews, June 2014

55th Edward MacDowell Medal announcement

Download PDF

Skowhegan 2014 Barbara Lee Lecture Series

Skowhegan 2014 Barbara Lee Lecture Series

Betye Saar Lecture, July 18, 2014

Download PDF

LA Weekly, March 20, 2012

LA Weekly, March 20, 2012

by Catherine Wagley

Download PDF

Glamour Magazine, November 2011

Glamour Magazine, November 2011

Your 4 Must-Dos of the Month

Download PDF

Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2011

Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2011

PST, A to Z: ‘Doin’ It in Public,’ ‘Collaboration Labs’

Download PDF

Art & Antiques, October 2011

Art & Antiques, October 2011

by Scarlet Cheng

Download PDF

Details Magazine, September 2011

Details Magazine, September 2011

The L.A. Art Scene Through the Years

Download PDF

American Artist, June 2011

American Artist, June 2011

by Courtney Jordan

Download PDF

The Root, March 21, 2011

The Root, March 21, 2011

Black Women Who Rule the Art Scene

Download PDF

ArtForum, February 2011

ArtForum, February 2011

by Eva Diaz

Download PDF

Art Ltd Magazine, January/February 2011

Art Ltd Magazine, January/February 2011

by Betty Ann Brown

Download PDF

CityArts, November 24, 2010

CityArts, November 24, 2010

by Valerie Gladstone

Download PDF

MRG PRESS RELEASE

MRG PRESS RELEASE

Betye Saar: CAGE, A New Series of Assemblages and Collages

Download PDF

Art in America Guide 2007

Art in America Guide 2007

2006 People in Review

Download PDF

Art in America, June 2006

Art in America, June 2006

by Nancy Princenthal

Download PDF

MRG PRESS RELEASE

MRG PRESS RELEASE

Betye Saar: Migrations/Transformations

Download PDF

The New York Times, October 25, 2002

The New York Times, October 25, 2002

by Grace Glueck

Download PDF

Queens Alternative, October 25, 2002

Queens Alternative, October 25, 2002

by Michael Elias

Download PDF


Prints & Publications


Artist Information

“I am intrigued with combining the remnant o...

“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.”[1]

A native Californian, Betye Saar grew up in Pasadena during the Great Depression. After high school, she took art classes at Pasadena City College, earned a BA from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1949, and pursued graduate studies at California State University at Long Beach, the University of Southern California, and California State University at Northridge. While the hometowns of many artists are often just points of departure, Los Angeles has been a constant presence in Saar’s life and an important source of inspiration. In fact, art historian Jessica Dallow has attributed Saar’s unique blend of interests and approaches to the importance of LA in the 1960s and early 1970s as “a site of geographic convergence of feminism, assemblage art, and black consciousness.”[2]

Saar’s grandmother lived in Watts, and in the 1930s, Saar would visit regularly. The trips not only strengthened her connection to her own family history, they also enabled Saar to witness artist Simon Rodia constructing his famous towers. Saar would watch as Rodia sorted through piles of debris, selecting discarded objects to embed into cement over the towers’ steel frames. She once explained, “I think that was the beginning of me becoming an assemblagist or recycler.”[3] Three decades later, Watts would again affect her artistic development. Observing other LA-based artists like John Outterbridge, Noah Purifoy, and John Scott recycle wreckage from the 1965 riots as material for assemblages, Saar realized the power artists had to transform negative events and objects into creative acts of resistance. The upheavals in Watts became the catalyst for several area artists interested in making art with a political thrust to come together as a group.

In the late 1960s, Saar began to acquire what are euphemistically known as “black collectibles”—everyday objects that featured racist caricatures of African Americans and were found in homes throughout the United States. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, this ephemera became the cultural debris of racism that she would recycle into art. In 1972, she created her first series of assemblages, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. In one, a “mammy” figure stands on a field of cotton in front of a series of images of Aunt Jemima. In the center of her body is an image of another “mammy” standing in front of a picket fence and holding a white baby. As Saar explains, “the ‘mammy’ knew and stayed in her place. . . . I attempted to change that ‘place’ . . . . [by turning] a negative, demeaning figure into a positive, empowered woman who stands confrontationally with one hand holding a broom and the other armed for battle. A warrior ready to combat servitude and racism.”[4] She returned to this notion of resisting racism and servitude in such subsequent series as Workers and Warriors and In Service.

Saar voices her political, racial, religious, and gender concerns in her art so that she may “reach across the barriers of art and life, to bridge cultural diversities, and forge new understandings.” Other works have sought to reveal marginalized and hidden histories, ones that are both personal and public. She has examined Asian and African diasporic religions in relation to personal spirituality, the construction of racial hierarchies based on skin tone within black communities, and the ways that objects retain the memories and histories of their owners. A recent series, centered on the theme of mental, physical, and cultural imprisonment, was shown in the 2010 exhibition Betye Saar: CAGE at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

Saar has received numerous awards of distinction, including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1974, 1984), a J. Paul Getty Fund for the Visual Arts Fellowship (1990), a Flintridge Foundation Visual Artists Award (1998) and most recently, in 2013, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, presented her with the Distinguished Women in the Arts Award. In 1994, she and artist John Outterbridge represented the United States at the 22nd São Paulo Biennial in Brazil. In 2005, the University of Michigan Museum of Art organized the traveling exhibition Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment, which examined the use of photographic fragments in her work. A role model for generations of women, Saar has raised three daughters, including two accomplished artists (Alison and Lezley). In 2005, the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina presented work by all three Saar artists in the traveling exhibition Family Legacies: The Art of Betye, Alison and Lezley Saar.

Saar’s work was prominently featured in eight of the museum exhibitions that comprised Pacific Standard Time—a suite of twenty-six exhibitions funded by the Getty Foundation that were shown concurrently in museums throughout California in 2011 and 2012. Her work was also included in the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s 2014 traveling exhibition Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties. The artist’s first European solo exhibition took place in 2015 at the Museum Het Domein Sittard in The Netherlands. The exhibition, Betye Saar: Still Tickin’ was an ambitious survey that spanned six decades of the artist’s ouevre and included works on paper, mixed media assemblage, and site-specific installation. Her work is featured in the monumental exhibition, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, previously at the Tate Modern in London, England, and soon traveling to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR and the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2018.

The work of Betye Saar is represented in numerous museum collections including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Detroit Institute of the Arts (Detroit, MI); High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY); Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA); Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC); Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO); Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA); Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC); The Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN); and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.  

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC represented Betye Saar from 1996-2015. REDTIME: EST (March 15-May 3, 2014), was her first site specific installation at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery and the sixth solo presentation of her work.  Five Michael Rosenfeld Gallery publications are available in total.


[1] http://www.betyesaar.net

[2] Jessica Dallow, “Reclaiming Histories: Betye and Alison Saar, Feminism, and the Representation of Black Womanhood,” Feminist Studies, v.30, n. 1 (Spring 2004), 80.

[3] Renee Montagne, “Life is a Collage for Artist Betye Saar,” NPR, December 8, 2006. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6688207.

[4] Saar, “Unfinished Business: The Return of Aunt Jemima,” Betye Saar: Workers and Warriors: The Return of Aunt Jemima, exh. cat. (New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 1998), 3.

 

BETYE SAAR: STILL TICKIN'
Museum Het Domein, Sittard, Netherlands
June 28 - November 11, 2015
Opening Saturday, June 27th from 5:00-7:00pm
http://www.hetdomein.nl

traveling to Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
January 30 - May 1, 2016
http://www.smoca.org/

TAKE AN OBJECT
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
August 22, 2015–February 28, 2016
www.moma.org

1949   
B.A. University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Graduate Studies at California State University, Long Beach, CA; University of Southern California; and California State University,  Northridge, CA
 

SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
The Anne Gary Parnell Art Gallery, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Art Galleries at Black Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
DePaul University Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IO
Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, MI
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Skokie, IL
Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY
Muscarelle Museum of Art, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Munson-Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
The Paul R. Jones Collection, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Saint Joseph College Art Gallery, West Hartford, CT
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, WA
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Sweet Briar College Art Gallery, Sweet Briar, VA
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Tate, London, England
Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
University of Pennsylvania, Arthur Ross Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1964 
Betye Saar, Kozlow Gallery, Encino, CA

1966
Prints and Drawings, Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1968
Betye Saar: Graphics and Assemblages, Gallery Carnot, Los Angeles, CA

1972    
One Woman Exhibit, Multi-Cul Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Black Girl’s Window, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA

1973    
Betye Saar: Selected Works 1964-1973, Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

1975    
Betye Saar, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1976    
Betye Saar: Women Artist Series, Year 5, Douglas College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Matrix 22: Betye Saar, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Betye Saar, Monique Knowlton Gallery New York, NY

1977    
Betye Saar, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Ritual, Baum-Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1979    
Betye Saar: New Work, Baum-Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar: Collages, Gallery 62, National Urban League, Inc., New York, NY
Betye Saar: Collages/Assemblages, Mandeville Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA
Betye Saar, University Art Gallery, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, MD

1980    
Rituals: The Art of Betye Saar, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Betye Saar: Art Department Guest Artist in Residence, California State University School of the Arts, Long Beach, CA
Betye Saar, Linda Ferris Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Betye Saar, Crystal Britton Gallery, Atlanta, GA

1981
Betye Saar: New Work, Baum-Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar: New Collages, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY

1982   
Betye Saar: Collages, Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1983
Betye Saar: Collages & Installations, Woman’s Art Movement, Adelaide, Australia
Uneasy Dancer, Canberra School of Art, Canberra ACT, Australia
In My Solitude, Art Gallery, Mt. St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar, Smith Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

1984    
Betye Saar, Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Secrets & Revelations, Georgia State University Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Betye Saar: Installation, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN; Artemesia Gallery, Chicago, IL
Betye Saar, Rene Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
In Context, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Oasis, Museum of Contemporary Art, Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Secrets & Revelations, Montgomery Art Center, Pomona College Museum, Claremont, CA

1985
Spiritcatcher, Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Collage and Installations, Art Gallery, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA
Wood and Shadow, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME

1986 
Betye Saar: Paperworks, Southwest Craft Centre, San Antonio, TX
Predictions, Women’s Building, Los Angeles, CA

1987   
Sentimental Sojourn: Strangers & Souvenirs, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Mojotech, List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

1988   
Voyages: Dreams & Destinations, Taichung Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan
Shadow Song, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Betye Saar: Resurrection: Site Installations, 1977 to 1987, Main Art Gallery, Visual Arts Center, California State University,  Fullerton, CA
House of Fortune, Manila, The Philippines
A Gathering of Hearts, Saxon-Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1989   
Illusions, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Fragments of Fate, Auckland, New Zealand

1990
Sanctified Visions, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

1991   
Sentimental Souvenirs, Objects Gallery, Chicago, IL

1992   
Signs of the Times, Hypo Square, Hypo-Bank, New York, NY
Betye Saar: The Ritual Journey, Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT

1993    
Betye Saar: The Secret Heart, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA

1994    
Limbo, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA

1995 
Personal Icons, Desaisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA;  Joselyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE; The University Art Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Anderson Ranch Art Center,  Snowmass Village, CO

1996
Visual Journey, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Tangled Roots, Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State College, University Park, PA

1997
Ritual and Remembrance, The Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; California African American Museum,  Los Angeles, CA

1998
Workers + Warriors: The Return of Aunt Jemima, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY;
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC; The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Crossings, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
A Woman’s Boat: Voyages, Saddleback College Art Gallery, Mission Viejo, CA

2000
Betye Saar: As Time Goes By…1591-1951, Pinnacle Galleries, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
In Service: A Version of Survival, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

2002
Betye Saar: Personal Icons, Merrill Lynch & Co, Inc., Princeton, NJ
Betye Saar: Colored – Consider the Rainbow, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; The Columbus Museum Uptown, Columbus, GA

2003
Betye Saar: Personal Icons, Kirkland Fine Art Center, Milliken University, Decatur, IL

2005
Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm, Beach, FL, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, CA

2006
Betye Saar:  Migrations/Transformations, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

2010
Betye Saar: CAGE, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

2011
Betye Saar: CAGE, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar: Red Time, An Installation, Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar, Art Platform-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

2013
Betye Saar: The Alpha & Omega (The Beginning & The End), Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA

2014
REDTIME: EST, An Installation by Betye Saar, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Betye Saar, Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, NH
Betye Saar On The Shelf, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA

2015
Betye Saar: Still Tickin’, Museum Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ

2016 
Betye Saar: Uneasy Dancer, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy
Black White, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA
Blend, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA

2018
Betye Saar: Keepin’ It Clean, Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA; New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, New York, NY
Betye Saar: Something Blue, Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA

2019
Betye Saar: Call and Response, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY; Mississippi  Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX
Betye Saar: The Legends of ‘Black Girl’s Window’, curated by Esther Adler and Christophe Cherix, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2021      
Betye Saar – 2020 Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL

 


1961
Palos Verdes Invitational, Palo Verdes Library Gallery, Palo Verdes, CA

1964
The 12th Annual All City Outdoor Art Festival, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA
First Annual All California, Los Angeles Printmaking Society, Los Angeles, CA

1965
Prints by American Negro Artists, one day exhibition at First Unitarian Church, Los Angeles, CA
The Third Annual 980 Art Show, Friends House, Pasadena, CA
First Annual Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, CA

1966
The Negro in American Art, University of California, Los Angeles, CA; University of California, Davis, CA; Fine Arts Gallery of San  Diego, San Diego, CA; The Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA
The Fourth Annual 980 Art Show, Friends House, Pasadena, CA

1968
25 California Women Artists, Lytton Center of Visual Arts, Los Angeles, CA
30 Contemporary Black Artists, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, NY; Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences (now Roberson Museum and Science Center), Binghamton, NY; Memorial Art Gallery,    Rochester, NY; San Francisco Museum of Art (now San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), San Francisco, CA; Contemporary Arts Museum – Houston, Houston, TX; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Museum of Art (now RISD Museum), Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Art Galleries (now Art, Design, & Architecture Museum), UC Santa Barbara, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Fourth Annual All California, Los Angeles Printmaking Society, Los Angeles, CA
In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

1970
Whitney Museum Annual of Contemporary Sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Dimensions of Black, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
Sapphire Show: You've Come a Long Way, Baby, Gallery 32, Los Angeles, CA

1971
Benny, Bernie, Betye, Noah and John: Five Black Artists, Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Black Untitled II: The Figure, Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA

1972
Fifth California Small Images Exhibition, California State University, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, 1972: A Panorama of Black Artists, Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
Art Unlimited, Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA
The Cup Show, David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Small Environments, University Galleries, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
Black Heroes, The Rainbow Sign Cultural Center, Berkeley, CA

1973
Women Artists in the Museum Collection, University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
Dimensional Prints, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Ahmanson Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Art of Black Culture, California State University, Humboldt, CA
Eight Women Artists from Los Angeles, Santa Monica City College, Santa Monica, CA
Black Mirror, Womenspace, Los Angeles, CA
In a Bottle, California State University, Fullerton, CA
Black USA: 1973, New York Cultural Center, New York, NY

1974
West Coast 74: Black Image, E.B.Crocker Gallery, Sacramento, CA; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sixteen Los Angeles Women Artists, Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA
Three Women Artists, Palos Verdes Art Museum, Palos Verdes, CA
Sculpture and Assemblage, Art Rental Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1975
Collage & Assemblage, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

1976
20th Century Black American Artists, San José Museum of Art, San José, CA
In Search of Four Women/Four Cultures, Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Four Los Angeles Area Artists (Nathanial Bustion, Alonzo Davis, Betye Saar, and Stanley Wilson), Fisher Art Gallery, University of  Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA
The Object as Poet, Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Museum of  Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY

1977
Painting & Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA; National Gallery of Art,  Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Marie Johnson and Betye Saar, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
The California Group: California Black Artists, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

1979
The Magical Mystery Tour (Betye, Alison and Lezley Saar), Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA

1980
Celebration: Six Black Americans, Security Pacific Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
In Celebration: Six Black Americans, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton. NJ
Totems, Fetishes and Devotional Objects, The Alternative Museum, New York, NY
Impressions Expressions: Black American Graphics, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

1981
Forever Free: Art by African American Women, 1862-1980, Center for Visual Arts Gallery, Illinois State University, Normal, IL;  Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts,  Montgomery, AL; Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston,  SC; The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
California Collage, LRC Gallery, College of the Siskiyous, Weed, CA
Women in Art, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Southern California Artists: 1940-1980, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA
Elegant Night, Security Pacific Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
Kindred Spirits, Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY
Los Angeles Prints: 1883-1980, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

1982
Ritual & Myth, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
The Book as Art, Artworks, Los Angeles, CA

1983
On & Off the Wall: Shaped & Colored, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; Boise Gallery of Art, Boise, ID; Utah Museum of Fine Arts,  Salt Lake City, UT; Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, FL; Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, FL; Palm Springs Desert  Museum, Palm Springs, CA; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA
Visions: Margit Omar/Betye Saar, Mt. St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, CA
The Artist and the Quilt, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers     University, New Brunswick, NJ

1984
Return of the Narrative, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Since the Harlem Renaissance: 50 Years of Afro-American Art, Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Arts Festival of Atlanta, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA
East-West: Contemporary American Art, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA

1985
Tradition and Conflict: Images of a Turbulent Decade 1963-1973, Studio Museum in Harlem,
New York, NY
Between the Worlds: The Art of Women’s Altars, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana,   CA
Working on the Railroad: Art Projects for the Northeast Corridor, Whitney Museum of American Art, Champion International  Building, Stamford, CT
The Art of Collage, Evan-Tibbs Collection, Washington, DC

1986
Art Expressions in Paper, Security Pacific National Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Works of Art on Paper by Black Artists, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Gentlemen’s Choice, The Woman’s Building, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Sculpture: Selections from the Permanent Collection, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New  York, NY

1987
Sculpture Trends of the 80’s, The Queen’s Museum, Flushing, NY
The Afro-American Artist in the Age of Pluralism, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Passages: A Survey of California Women Artists, Part II, Fresno Center & Museum, Fresno, CA
The Eloquent Object, Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK; Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; San  Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA;  The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA

1988
Art As a Verb, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
The Poetic Object, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX; Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID; Art Museum of South    Texas, Corpus Christie, TX; Art Museum of Amarillo, Amarillo, TX
Lost and Found in California: Four Decades of Assemblage Art (The Narrative), Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Frontiers in Fiber: The Americans, North Dakota Museum of Art, ND; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Ishikawa Industrial  Center, Kanzawa, Japan; Kyoto National Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul, Korea; The Thailand  Cultural Center, Bangkok, Thailand; National Art Galleries, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou,  China; The Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila Philippines; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; National Museum,  Jakarta, Indonesia; National Museum of Singapore, Singapore
Cultural Currents, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
The Second Generation: The Narrative 1957-1987, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1989
The Appropriate Object, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York, NY; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; San Jose Museum of Art,    San Jose, CA; J.B. Speed Museum, Louisville, KY
The 1960s: A Cultural Awakening, Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Forty Years of California Assemblage, Wight Art Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Fresno    Art Museum, Fresno, CA; Josyln Museum of Art, Omaha, NE
Secrets and Shadows, California State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
Women’s Caucus for Art 10th Annual Exhibition, Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-85, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
African American Artists 1880-1987: Selections from the Evans-Tibbs Collection, Smithsonian Museum of  American Art, Washington, DC; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL

1990
Among Africas/In America: Betye Saar & Jose Bedia, Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
The Decade Show, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Secrets, Dialogues, Revelations: The Art of Betye and Alison Saar, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; The Contemporary Arts Center,    Cincinnati, OH; Smith College of Art, Northampton, MA; Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, TX; The Museum of     Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Wright Art Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

1991
Women and the Surreal Narrative, California State University, Fullerton, CA
Professor’s Choice, Montgomery Art Gallery, Pomona College, Claremont, CA

1992
500 Years: With the Breath of Our Ancestors, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Betye Saar, Bennie Lusane, Angel Suarez-Rosado, Intar Gallery, New York, NY

1993
In Out of the Cold, Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, CA
Building a Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
African American Works on Paper from the Cochran Collection, Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland, OH;  Metropolitan State College Center for Visual Arts, Denver, CO; Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL
Fibers: USA Today, Netherlands Textile Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands, Museum of Applied Arts, Helsinki Finland

1994
The Art of Betye Saar and John Otterbridge, 22nd Biennial of Sao Paulo, Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City, Paine Webber Art Gallery, New York, NY
The Sacred and the Profane, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The US Delegation Fifth Biennial of Havana, Wilfredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba
Generation of Mentors, National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
25 Years of African-American Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; The Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA; The  Art Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; The Scottsdale Art Center, Scottsdale, AZ; Munson-Williams- Proctor Institute, Utica, NY; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX; The New York State Museum, Albany,  NY; The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA; Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, MA; Heckscher Museum, Huntington  Long Island, NY; The Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, Miami, FL
Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 – the Present, University Art
Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA;  San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Relatively Speaking: Mother and Daughters in Art, Sweet Briar College Art Gallery, Sweet Briar, VA; Rahr West Museum,     Manitowock, WI; Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY; Rockford Museum of Art, Rockford, IL, Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, NY
African American Women Prints, Brandywine Workshop’s Printed Image Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1995
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, II, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
The Art of Betye Saar and John Otterbridge, Africus Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa
Collage: Made in America, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Photogenetic: Reviewing the Lens of History, Street Level Photography Gallery and Workshop, Glasgow, Scotland
Works by Betye, Lezley and Alison Saar, Montgomery Glasoe Fine Art, Minneapolis, MN

1996 
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, III, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Fiber and Form: The Woman’s Legacy, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Bearing Witness, Spelman College Museum of Art, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA; Washington State
University, Pullman, WA; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne,
IN, The Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA; The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Three Outdoor Installations, 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA
Partners in Printmaking: Works from the SOLO Impressions, National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

1997
Hanging by a Thread, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, IV, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, TN
Going the Distance: A Generational Survey of Women Artists, Lawrence Gallery, Rosemont College, Rosemont, PA

1998
The Tip of the Iceberg: A Response to New York Museums III, Dorfman Projects, New York, NY
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, V, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane    University, New Orleans, LA
Same Difference, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Freedom or Slavery: The Paul Robeson Portfolio, Bomani Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Erie Pennsylvania Art Museum, Erie, PA; The Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, CA; Oakland City Hall, Oakland, CA; JFK Library, Vallejo, CA

1999
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VI, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Beyond the Veil: African-American Artists and Their Art at Century’s End, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL
Re-righting History: Counternarratives by Contemporary African-American Artists, Katonah Museum of Art, Westchester, NY
The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Toward A Society for All Ages: World Artists at the Millennium, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, United Nations, New York, NY

2000
The Likeness of Being: Contemporary Self Portraits by 50 Women, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
Remnants of Memory: Contemporary American Art in Textile, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
An Exuberant Bounty: Prints and Drawings by African Americans, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VII, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Appleton Museum of Art, Florida  State University and Central Florida Community College, Ocala, FL
re-righting History II, UFA Gallery, New York, NY
Strength and Diversity: A Celebration of African American Artists, Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: The First Decade, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Rivers of Spirit: Art Women in the African Diaspora, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL
In the Shadow of the Flag, Tippy Stern Fine Art, Charleston, SC
American Art Today: Fantasies & Curiosities, The Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL
Icons of a Century: A Retrospective, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA

2001
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks VIII, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
African American Artists, Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, WA
Uncommon Threads: Contemporary Artists and Clothing, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Contemporary Romanticism, The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Art of the Masters: A Survey of African American Images, 1980-2000, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York,  NY
On Common Ground, Tobey Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2001
Collector’s Show, The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
Made in California: Art, Image and Identity, 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

2002
Creative Expressions: Prints and Works on Paper, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Free Expressions: Community Voices and Contemporary African American Art from the Collection, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, IX, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Tubman African American    Museum, Macon, GA
Consequences of Empire, Public Resource Center for Activism and Arts, Washington, DC
Successions: Prints by African-American Artists from the Jean & Robert Steele Collection, Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; Carleton College, Northfield, MN; University Art Gallery, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA; Muscarelle Museum of Art, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA; The James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD; Art Museum, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC; Tubman African American Museum, Macon, GA
The Belles of Amherst: Contemporary Women Artists, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
In Memory: The Art of Afterward, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, New York, NY
Personal & Political: The Women’s Art Movement, 1969-1975, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
Some Assemblage Required: Collage Culture in Post-War America, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; Madison Art Center, Madison, WI; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL

2002
Collectors Show, The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR

2003
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, X, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
American Art and Artifacts Featuring the Chris Webber Collection, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
My Mother’s an Artist, The Educational Alliance Art School and Gallery, New York, NY
Layers of Meaning: Collage and Abstraction in the late 20th Century, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
An American Legacy: Art from The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
African American Masters: Highlights of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, New York Historical Society, New York, NY;  Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN; The Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, FL; Cincinnati Art Museum,  Cincinnati, OH; Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH; The Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE; Long Beach  Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
Turning Corners, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Seizing the Myths: Arts of Rebellion, Resource Center for Activism and Arts, Washington, DC
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Focus on the Figure: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Popular, Pop & Post-Pop: Color Screenprints 1930s to Now, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

2004
African American Artists in Los Angeles, A Survey Exhibition: Fade (1990-2003), Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA
Seeds and Roots: Selections from the Permanent Collection, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Embracing the Muse: Africa and African American Art, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
African-American Works on Paper from the Cochran Collection, Long Island Museum of Art, Stony Brook, NY
What’s That?, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, New York, NY
Women Artists of the Twentieth Century, Sweet Briar College Art Gallery, Sweet Briar, VA

2005
Family Legacies: The Art of Betye, Alison and Lezley Saar, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC;   Pasadena Art Center, Pasadena, CA; San José Museum of Art, San José, CA; Palmer Art Museum, Pennsylvania State   University, University Park, PA
Back to Black: Art, Cinema and the Racial Imaginary, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England; New Art Gallery, Warsall,   England
Eye Contact, American Painting and Drawing, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Syncopated Rhythms: 20th Century African American Art from the George and Joyce Wein Collection, Boston University Art Gallery,  Boston University, Boston, MA
Art of Engagement, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
How American Women Artists Invented Postmodernism: 1970–1975, Mason Gross School of the Arts    Galleries, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

2006
Double Exposure: African Americans Before and Behind the Camera, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona State College, Daytona Beach, FL; Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH; David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
LA-Paris: 1955-1985, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Shifting Dimensions: Sculptors on Paper, Tobey Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY
L.A Object and David Hammons Body Prints, Tilton Gallery, New York, NY

2007
Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Arts, 1980-2006, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdale, CA
Agents of Change: Women, Art and Intellect, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY
Big Picture: Provisions for the Arts of Social Change, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY
At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD
Crossing the Line: African American Artists in the Jacqueline Bradley and Clarence Otis, Jr. Collection, The George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL
Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists, 1980-2006, Women's Caucus for the Art at The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965-1980, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA
Modern Times: Alumni Collect, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Image and Identity in African American Art, Highlights from the Collection, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Beyond the Mountaintop, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Blacks:  In and Out of the Box, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Southern California Art of the 1960s and 70s from LACMA’s Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
West Coast Masters of Assemblage & Collage, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT
ART in Embassies Exhibition, United States Ambassador Maurice Parker Residence, Mbabane, Swaziland

2008
Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT; Copper Village Museum and Art Center, Anaconda, MT;   University of Montana-Western, Dillon, MT; Carbon County Arts Guild and Depot Gallery, Livingston, MT; Custer County Art and Heritage Center, Miles City, MT; Paris Gibson Square Art Museum, Great Falls, MT; Mondak Heritage Center, Sidney, MT; The Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT; Montana Museum of Arts and Culture, Missoula, MT; Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT
A New Cosmopolitan: Preeminence of Place in Contemporary Art, Main Art Gallery, California State University, Fullerton, CA
Landscape of Slavery:  The Plantation in American Art, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA
African American Art:  200 Years, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit, Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT ; Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA;  Gardiner Art Gallery, Oklahoma State Univ, Stillwater, OK; Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA; Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenectady, NY ; Denison University Museum, Granville, OH; College Gallery, Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, OH; Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA; Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca Gallery, Ithaca, NY; Swope Museum, Terra Haute, IN; Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA; Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT
NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; PS.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY;    Miami Art Museum, Miami Beach, FL
Artist as Social Critic: Enrique Chagoya, Betye Saar, Roger Shimomura, and Ben Sakoguchi, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR
Through the Eyes of Others:  African Americans and Identity in American Art, New York State Historical Association, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
Modernist Women, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
(un)common threads, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Double Exposure:  African-Americans Before and Behind the Camera, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA; DePaul University Art Gallery, Chicago, IL; Southeast Photography Museum, Dayton, FL; David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD

2009
Inside/Insight LA Art, José Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, CA
Some Assembly Required: Race, Gender & Globalization, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz,    CA; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Gallery 32 and Its Circle, Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
Layered / Boxed, Nohra Haime Gallery, New York, NY
The Chemistry of Color, The Sorgenti Collection of Contemporary African American Art, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH;  Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
The Watts Towers/50 Years Inspiring Art, Watts Towers Arts Center, Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA
California Calling: Works from Santa Barbara Collection, 1948-2009, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Installations: Inside/Out 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
LAPS 20th National Exhibition, LA Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2010
Successions: Prints by African-American Artists from the Jean and Robert Steele Collection, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Women Call for Peace: Global Vistas, organized by the Mid-America Arts Alliance; Art league Bonita Springs, Bonita Springs, FL; University of Arkansas Art Galleries, Little Rock, AR; George A. Spiva Centre for the Arts, Joplin, Missouri; John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NB; J. Wayne Stark University Center Galleries, College Station, TX
Huckleberry Finn, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
The Artist's Museum, Los Angeles Artists 1980-2010, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Cultural Windows: The Art of Ruth Asawa, Ynez Johnston and Betye Saar, Art Gallery, Los Angeles Valley College, Valley Glen, CA
Shadow Song, La Biscuiterie de Medina Venue - III, World Festival Black Arts & Culture, Dakar, Senegal
Gallery of California Art, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

2011
Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; PS1-MOMA, New York, NY; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
ART in Embassies Exhibition, United States Ambassador Bisa Williams Residence, Niamey, Niger
Greetings from LA.: Artists and Publics, 1950-1980, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA
100th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in LA Painting and Sculpture, 1945-1970, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA;    Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Artistic Evolution: Southern California Artists, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA
Beyond Bearden: Creative Responses, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC
Freedom’s Sisters, Museum of Art and Tolerance, Los Angeles, CA
Places of Validation, Art & Progression, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Not Standard in Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Civic Virtue: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and the Watts Towers Art Center 1950-1980, LA Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2012
LA Raw: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles, 1945-1980: From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA
African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from The David C. Driskell Center, organized by Smithsonian Institute of Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES), The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL; Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA; The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC; Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH
Breaking in Two: Provocative Visions of Motherhood, Santa Monica Art Center, Santa Monica, CA
Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Successions: Prints by African American Artists from the Jean & Robert Steele Collection, David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Regarding Warhol: Fifty Artists, Fifty Years, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, NY
From Nothing to SOMEthing: Assemblage, Collage and Sculpture, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
To be a Lady: Forty-five Women in the Arts, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Art Gallery, New York, NY
Full Spectrum: Prints from the Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center, David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD
African American Visions: Selections from the Samella Lewis Collection, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Baila Con Duende: Group Art Exhibition, Watts Towers Art Center, Watts, CA
We the People, Robert Rauschenberg Project Space, New York, NY
The Female Gaze:  Women Artists Making Their World, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
INsite/INchelsea: The Inaugural Exhibition, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

2013
Etched in Collective History, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Reflections: African American Life from the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection, International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA; Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, MS; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
Seismic Shifts: Ten Visionaries in Contemporary Art and Architecture, National Academy Museum, New York, NY
We Hold These Truths...,Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, NY
The Lunder Collectiom: A Gift of Art to Colby College, Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME

2014
Witness:  Art and Civil Rights in The Sixties, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH; The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
17 @ 70+, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
Venus Drawn Out: 20th Century Drawings by Great Women Artists, The Armory Show Modern, New York, NY
RISING UP/UPRISING: Twentieth Century African American Art, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Shared Vision: The Myron and Anne Jaffe Portenar Collection, Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

2015
Wonder Women, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Tchotchke: The Mass-Produced Sentimental Object in Contemporary Art, Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
Represent: 200 Years of African American Art in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Letters and Shadows: African American Art and Literature Since the Harlem Renaissance, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
I Like It Like This: S|2 x Drake, Sotheby's Contemporary Art Gallery, New York, NY
Collector’s Legacy: Selections from the Lloyd and Sandra Baccus Collection, David C. Driskell Center, College Park, MD
Marks Made: Prints by American Women Artists from the 1960s to the Present, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Take an Object, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
A Constellation, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2016
The Color Line: African American Artists and the Civil Rights in the United States, Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, France
Circa 1970, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2017
We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
The Time Is N♀w, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
1072 Society Exhibition, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, England; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The Broad, Los Angeles, CA; de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX

2018
One Way Or Another, Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA
Outliers and American Vanguard Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Hopes Springing High: Gifts of Art by African American Artists, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
It Takes a Village, Lancaster Museum of Art & Art History, Lancaster, CA
Now: The Call and Look of Freedom, Tougaloo College Art Gallery, Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS
Celebrating 50 Years of the US Open Championships, United States Tennis Association (USTA) President’s Suite, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows, NY
Truth & Beauty: Charles White and His Circle, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
NOW / Monster Chetwynd, Henry Coombes, Moyna Flannigan, Betye Saar, Wael Shawky, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland

2019    
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Smith College Museum of Art, Smith College, Northampton, MA; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
By Any Means: Contemporary Drawings from the Morgan, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY
Art of Defiance: Radical Materials, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Notes and Tones: Jazz Influences on the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Department of Cultural Affairs, Hudson County Community College, Jersey City, NJ
Straying from the Line, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
LA Blacksmith, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Frederick Douglass: Embers of Freedom, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA

2020
Some Day is Now: Women, Art & Social Change, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Tell Me Your Story: 100 Years of Storytelling in African American Art, curated by Rob Perrée, Kunsthal KAde, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Making Community: Prints from Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Brodsky Center at PAFA, and Paulson Fontaine Press, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,   
Philadelphia, PA
Paper Power, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
For the Record: Celebrating Art by Women, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Saints and Sin: Selections from the Permanent Collection by Black Artists, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA 

2021      
Colliding with History: African American Works on Paper from the Collection of Wes and Missy Cochran, The Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design Gallery, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Picturing Motherhood Now: Images for a New Era, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Vision & Spirit: African American Art | Works from the Bank of America Collection, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Levine Center for the Arts, Charlotte, NC
re: collections, Six Decades at the Rose Art Museum, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Now Is The Time: Recent Acquisitions to the Contemporary Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby: The Sapphire Show, Ortuzar Projects, New York, NY
Enduring Voices: African American Art from the David R. and Susan S. Goode Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
Call & Response: Collecting African American Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY
There Is a Woman in Every Color: Black Women in Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN; Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, The University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL

1983
L.A. Energy, 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA

1984
Fast Trax, Newark Train Station, Newark, NJ

1986
On Our Way, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Metrorail Station, Miami, FL

1989
House of the Open Hand, Assemblage/Mural at Broadway-Spring Center, 3rd & Spring Streets, Los Angeles, CA

1997
Roots & Wings Garden, Public Art Fund, New York, NY (collaboration with Alison Saar)

2000
Bookmarks in the Pages of Life: A Collection of Short Stories, by Zora Neale Hurston, with six original serigraph illustrations by Betye Saar, The Limited Editions Club, New York, NY

It is available for sale in our Publications section.

1974
National Endowment for the Arts

1984
National Endowment for the Arts

1989
Women’s Caucus for Art Conference, San Francisco, CA

1990
J. Paul Getty Fund for the Visual Arts Fellowship, Malibu, CA
22nd Annual Artist Award, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

1991
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, NY
Honorary Doctorate Degree, California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, CA

1992
James VanDerZee Award, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
Honorary Doctorate Degrees: Otis/Parson, Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA; Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA

1993
Distinguished Artist Award, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA

1995
Honorary Doctorate Degree, California Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA

1997
Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation Award, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA

1998
Flintridge Foundation Visual Artists Award

1999
National Artist Award, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Village, CO
Living Artists Award, The California Art Education Association, Pasadena, CA

2000
Distinguished Lecturer, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
Annual Pioneer Awards, I.A.M., New York, NY

2004
CAA Committee on Women in the Arts Annual Recognition Award

2005
Alan Locke Award, Detroit Institute of Arts, MI

2007
Artist Award for a Distinguished Body of Work, College Art Association, 95th Annual Conference, New York, NY

2008
Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts, Congressional Black Caucus, Washington, DC

2008
Religion in the Arts Award, co-honored with Alison Saar, Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta, GA
Trailblazer Award for the Visual Arts, Weeksville Heritage Center, New York, NY
Through the Flower Achievement Award, The Feminist Art Project, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

2011
Interpretations: Black Visual Art Past, Present, Future Recognition of Excellence, National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA
Lifetime Achievement Award Visual Art, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2012
Honorary Doctorate Degree, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
Freedom Fund Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Altadena Chapter, Altadena, CA

2013
8th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Icon Award, Artist Muse / Fusion MIA Fair, Miami, FL

2014
Distinguished Lecturer, FADE: The Art of Aging, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Distinguished Lecturer, 2014 Barbara Lee Lecture Series, Skowhegan, Madison, ME
55th Annual Edward MacDowell Medal, Peterborough, NH

2015
Contemporary Art Series: MATRIX Artists in Conversation: Michael McMillen & Betye Saar, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT

2018
Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, International Sculpture Center, New York, NY
Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, New York, NY

2019
Art Icon Award, Wearable Art Gala, WACO Theater Center, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Art + Film Gala, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA

2020
26th Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

1972
Small Environments, Madison Art Center and Southern Illinois University, sets of slides. Madison, WI and  Carbondale, IL

1974
A Conversation with Dr. Samella Lewis, The Hatch-Billops Oral History  Collection of Black Culture; no. 6 interviewed by Betye Saar, sound recording, cassette

1978
Spiritcatcher: The Art of Betye Saar, The Originals: Women in Art Series, Perry Miller Adato producer for WNET, New York, NY

1979
Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space, videocassette directed by Barbara McCullough in conjunction with The Third Eye, Inc., Third World Newsreel, New York, NY
Caribbean and Afro-American Women Artists, Budek Films and Slides, Media for the Arts, Newport, RI

1986
Beyond the Dream: Black Women in the Arts, The Carnation Company

1987
Sculpture of the Eighties produced by The Queens Museum, Queens, NY

1989
Art is a Verb, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD

1990
Similar Differences: Betye & Alison Saar, Fellows of Contemporary Art, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
Stretching the Canvas, produced and directed by Joe Leonardi, Los Angeles Fellows of Contemporary Art,  Los Angeles, CA
Decade Show 1990, New Museum of Contemporary Art and Sandak Color Slides, G.A. Hall & Co., New York, NY and Boston, MA

1994
Betye & Alison Saar: Conjure Women of the Arts, produced by Linda Freeman, distributed by L & S Video, Inc.

1997
Voices & Images of California Art, CD-ROM, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

1998
Digital Griot: The Art of Betye Saar, CD-ROM, Voyager/LTI, New York, NY

2010
!Women Art Revolution, DVD, Lynn Hershman Hotwire Productions, San Francisco, CA

2011
Los Angeles: City of Art, The New York Times, New York, NY
Red Time, interview with Betye Saar by Phil Savenick, Jack Tilton Gallery, Los Angeles, LA

2020
Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business, LACMA Productions, Los Angeles, CA