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The Good Old Days
Betye Saar (American, born in 1926)
Medium/Technique
Mixed media
Dimensions
Overall: 44.5 × 34.3 × 1.9 cm (17 1/2 × 13 1/2 × 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
The John Axelrod Collection—Frank B. Bemis Fund, Charles H. Bayley Fund, and The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection
Accession Number2011.1815
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsMixed media
A well-worn, elbow-length glove reaches across the contours of a carved frame and into the frame's center, partially covering an antique photograph of a group of black women--one of whom, offering a smile, peeks through a decorative hole in the glove. Marbled paper spans the inside of the frame, hosting pressed ferns, butterfly wings, and feathers, as well as a stained, frayed piece of cloth and a rectangle of cracked, tooled leather covered in a pattern of roses.
These found objects derive from Saar's vast collection of family memorabilia and antique-market finds. Assembled, they create a tangible step in the artist's journey to connect to her ancestors and serve as a commentary on woman's role in society, as they become vessels that "hold" those connections and memories. Saar's assemblege technique initially engaged both cosmic and racial subject matter. Enclosed in boxes, her early assemblages delivered deft appropriations of objects that comprise the totality of black memorabilia--everyday objects in the forms of stereotypical depictions of African Americans. She is deeply committed to women's rights and has been surrounded by strong women in both her family and her professional life. Her assemblages are often dedicated to her female relatives or women she has admired; the objects in a work speak to the style of the woman being commemorated.
The muted greens and browns of a faded Nature dominate The Good Old Days, calling to mind traditional notions of the role of women as nurturers and caretakers; the work, however, was probably completed as a part of a series of assemblages created during the women's liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The glove reaching into the center of the frame is emblematic of this contrast, evoking the artist's reminiscences of a comforting past, while moving forward to grasp a stronger, more independent future.--TLP
Adapted from Sims, Lowery Stokes, Dennis Carr, Janet L. Comey, et al., CommonWealth: Art By African Americans in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (Boston: MFA Publications, 2014), p. 25-26.
These found objects derive from Saar's vast collection of family memorabilia and antique-market finds. Assembled, they create a tangible step in the artist's journey to connect to her ancestors and serve as a commentary on woman's role in society, as they become vessels that "hold" those connections and memories. Saar's assemblege technique initially engaged both cosmic and racial subject matter. Enclosed in boxes, her early assemblages delivered deft appropriations of objects that comprise the totality of black memorabilia--everyday objects in the forms of stereotypical depictions of African Americans. She is deeply committed to women's rights and has been surrounded by strong women in both her family and her professional life. Her assemblages are often dedicated to her female relatives or women she has admired; the objects in a work speak to the style of the woman being commemorated.
The muted greens and browns of a faded Nature dominate The Good Old Days, calling to mind traditional notions of the role of women as nurturers and caretakers; the work, however, was probably completed as a part of a series of assemblages created during the women's liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The glove reaching into the center of the frame is emblematic of this contrast, evoking the artist's reminiscences of a comforting past, while moving forward to grasp a stronger, more independent future.--TLP
Adapted from Sims, Lowery Stokes, Dennis Carr, Janet L. Comey, et al., CommonWealth: Art By African Americans in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (Boston: MFA Publications, 2014), p. 25-26.
Provenance2011, sold by John Axelrod, Boston, to the MFA. (Accession date: June 22, 2011)
CopyrightReproduced with permission.