Overview
- Betye Saar died in her sleep on Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Los Angeles, a fact confirmed by her gallery Roberts Projects and family.
- She built a seven‑decade career in assemblage by transforming found objects and racist memorabilia into works that reclaimed Black identity and spiritual resilience.
- Her 1972 work The Liberation of Aunt Jemima remains the most cited example of her method because it turned a demeaning caricature into a figure of armed resistance.
- Major museum recognition accelerated late in her life, including concurrent solo shows at MoMA and LACMA in 2019 and honors in 2026, and she continued making art into her 90s.
- Her estate will be stewarded by the Betye Saar Legacy Group created with Roberts Projects, which aims to preserve access for curators, scholars, and the public while several centennial shows remain on view.