The Differences Between

Betye Saar (American, born in 1926)

1989

Medium/Technique Cotton velvet on pressboard with found objects: embossed laminated paper board, wood fan, photograph, partial glove, nylon netting, feather, watchface, hair ornaments

Dimensions 41.9 x 33 x 3.8 cm (16 1/2 x 13 x 1 1/2 in.)

Credit Line Curator's Grant Program of the Peter Norton Family Foundation

Accession Number1991.533

NOT ON VIEW

CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas

ClassificationsMixed media

Betye Saar places found objects into evocative assemblages, creating compositions that welcome interpretation. In 1975, the artist inherited her aunt's collection of photographs, gloves, fans, lace, and brooches, which then appeared in Saar's work as "fragments from the past ... a sort of sentimental journey back when time moved slower and people collected memories." Here Saar lays a sheer nylon veil over an antique photograph of an interracial pair whose identities we must imagine.

Provenance1991, sold by the artist to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 25, 1991)