Betye Saar (b. 1926) and

Rainbow Lindy (in the Apple) as Observed by Shangold

Betye Saar in her Los Angeles studio, 1970. photo by Robert A Nakamura and published in *Now Dig This!: Art & Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980,* p. 54.

Betye Saar is best known for her mixed media collages and assemblages in which found objects and cross-cultural symbols are placed thoughtfully into a “visual pastiche.” (1). Although she works through political and social commentary, another of her themes is “man’s need for some kind of ritual.” (2)

Saar first studied design at Pasadena Community College, and interior design at UCLA. Her postgraduate work led her to fine art, as she began to create color etchings, ink drawings, and intaglio prints. She was deeply affected by events of a tumultuous decade - the Watts Riots and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a visit to a retrospective exhibition of Joseph Cornell at the Pasadena Art Museum drew her further to her oeuvre. (3)

An especially apt description of Betye Saar’s method is provided in Lucy Lippard’s biographical essay in, Gumbo Ya Ya.

“Betye Saar’s process is a ritual itself - “a prescribed series or set of acts” - in which she has broken down the following components: The IMPRINT - ideas, thoughts, memories, and dreams from the past, present, and future; The SEARCH - the selective eye and intuition; the collecting, gathering, and accumulating of objects and materials, each bringing a presence, and energy (old, new, ethnic, organic); the recycling and transformation - the materials and objects are manipulated and combined with various media…The energy is expanded; the RELEASE - the work is shared (exhibited), experienced and relinquished. The “ritual” is completed.”

— Lucy R. Lippard (b. 1937), writer, art critic, activist, and curator.(4)

Rainbow Lindy (in the Apple) as Observed by Shangold , a small work of vivid watercolor and collage, dense with symbolism and mystery, is an excellent example of Betye Saar’s work.

Here, a cuddly housecat (Shangold) complete with bow tie and jaunty pipe observes the dance of two figures, the Lindy. All of these figures appear to have been cut from a 1930’s era Valentine card.

George Snowden and Mattie Purnell

The first dances named as Lindy Hop were born around the time the aviator Charles Lindbergh made his groundbreaking flight across the Atlantic Ocean in May 1927. The most famous Lindy Hop dance was born at a dance marathon at Harlem's Rockland Palace in 1928 by George Snowden and Mattie Purnell. That started a process in which their invention became bigger than anyone initially thought. In current vernacular - They went VIRAL. Snowden and his dance group, the Shorty Snowden Dancers, took the dance to the Savoy Ballroom and toured the United States. The Harlem dance is the only one of the Lindy Hop dances that survived in the long run and was appropriated into the mainstream in the 1930’s.

A rainbow represents hope - the calm and peace after a storm; and the moon and sun - a balance of energy, a yin and yang brought back in to harmony in the aftermath.

Ultimately, the assembling of this piece represented a ritual to Saar, with all of the necessary ingredients. We as the viewers experience it, relinquish it, and the ritual is complete.

1. Gordon, Allan M., et al. “Betye Saar.” Forever Free: Art by African-American Women, Stephenson Inc., Alexandria, VA, 1981, p. 122.

2. Ibid

3. Martin, Courtney J. “Betye Saar.” Now Dig This!: Art & Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980, Hammer Museum : University of California ; DelMonico Books/Prestel, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, 2011, p. 152.

4. Lippard, Lucy R. “Betye Saar/ Alison Saar.” Gumbo Ya Ya: Anthology of Contemporary African-American Women Artists, Midmarch Arts Press, New York, 1995, p. 239.