Showcasing a lesser-known aspect of Saar’s art, Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight provides insights into her explorations of ritual, spirituality and cosmologies, as well as themes of the African diaspora. Featured here are significant installations created by Saar from 1980 to 1998, including Oasis (1984).
With compelling scholarship and rich illustration, the monograph provides a fresh look at this significant artist’s critical and influential practice. Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight reinforces and celebrates Saar’s standing as a visionary artist, storyteller and mythmaker, and the ongoing significance and relevance of her work to the most pressing issues in America today.
Betye Saar (born 1926) is renowned for pioneering Black feminism and West Coast assemblage in her visionary artistic practice, through dense, complexly referential objects. For over six decades, Saar’s work has led dialogues on race and gender, reflecting changing cultural and political contexts.
Betye Saar's Black Dolls (on view May 8, 2026 - October 4, 2026) honors the renowned artist’s 100th birthday and celebrates a landmark promised gift to The New York Historical of her collection of more than 100 Black dolls. Ranging from rag dolls handmade by Black women for both Black and white children in their care to mass-produced toys and tourist souvenirs, some of which were borne of racism and perpetuate stereotypes, the collection includes Hoo Doo Woman (1974), the only Black doll designed and created by Saar herself.
