Dr. Rachel Federman, Morgan’s Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings, who has coordinated the exhibition, says, “It’s an honor to present the work of Betye Saar, an artist I have long admired. By providing access to her sketchbooks, this exhibition will give visitors an unprecedented glimpse into Saar’s artistic practice.”
Some of these never-before-displayed collages include ‘A Secretary to the Spirits’ (1975). The work is the outcome of an invitation by author and activist Ishmael Reed (b. 1938) to create a series of collages for his poetry book of the same name. Saar used a layered approach to echo Reed’s poetry, which blends references to the ancient and the contemporary, the spiritual and the mundane. In another form of “call and response,” each of Saar’s collages is based on and named for one of Reed’s poems.
The Morgan’s Director, Dr. Colin B. Bailey, said, “After a few somber months, we are excited to open our fall season with this incredible, poignant body of work by Betye Saar. Her assemblages, in combination with the tremendous creative repository of her notebooks, provide audiences with an opportunity to look closely at and consider the relationship between the found objects she uses, her sketches, and the completed works.”