Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl's Window

Betye Saar. _Black Crows in the White Section Only_. 1972. Assemblage with glass negative, found printed paper, found metal object, gouache on paper and fabric in wood and glass window frame, 22 × 18 × 1 3/4" (55.9 × 45.7 × 4.4 cm). Collection halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York. © 2019 Betye Saar, courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY.

Black Crows in the White Section Only 237

Assemblage with glass negative, found printed paper, found metal object, gouache on paper and fabric in wood and glass window frame, 22 × 18 × 1 3/4" (55.9 × 45.7 × 4.4 cm). Collection halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York. © 2019 Betye Saar, courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Image courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

Betye Saar: Most of the works in this exhibition are from the 60s, but I have two or so who were a more recent one. One of them is called Black Crows in the White Section Only. The date is 1972. This was a window that I found that had twelve small leaded panes. And I decided to put images in those windows of advertisements of that are of a derogatory nature, of black men.

So it starts out with an infant becoming alligator bait. A cigar box for hambone. Old Black Joe's butter beans. Darky toothpaste. A banjo player, a watermelon eater. The American flag with a Klansman. All of the things that were that were in advertisements and other media that were derogatory towards black men. I also did quite a few assemblages with derogatory images, the Liberation of Aunt Jemima, images of Uncle Tom. Images of pickaninnies. All sorts of objects were invented to keep black people in servitude. I decided to to use this to make a statement about my feeling of racism.

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