Betye Saar, Pioneering Assemblage Artist, Dies at 99

Betye Saar, a pioneering artist who transformed found objects and racist memorabilia into powerful symbols of Black liberation and identity, died on July 26, 2026, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 99 years old, just days before her 100th birthday on July 30. Her gallery, Roberts Projects, confirmed her death, stating she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Over a seven-decade career, Saar became a central figure of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, pioneering the art of assemblage. Her work used everyday items, family heirlooms, and vintage ephemera to explore themes of race, gender, memory, and spirituality, creating potent meditations on African American history and culture.

Among her most iconic works is "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima," created in 1972. The assemblage centered on a stereotypical "mammy" figurine, which Saar transformed by placing a rifle in its hand and surrounding it with politically charged imagery. She said the piece was a response to the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., aiming to channel her anger into art and transform a derogatory symbol into a warrior for Black liberation and women's rights. Her 1969 work, "Black Girls...