Betye Saar's 'Let's Get It On' Exhibition at Roberts Projects Explores Her Wearable Art
Betye Saar, an influential artist in the West Coast Black Arts movement, will be highlighted in the exhibition 'Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar' at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles. This event, which opens on May 30 and runs until August 22, 2026, marks her centenary and features over 200 items from the 1950s to the 1970s, such as costume designs and photographs. While raising her daughters in Laurel Canyon, Saar worked at the Inner City Cultural Center (ICCC), where she became the first costume mistress. Inspired by Simon Rodia and Joseph Cornell, her politically charged pieces include 'Black Girl's Window' (1969). Saar's artwork is part of significant museum collections, and she remains an active creator.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar' opens May 30 at Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.
- The show runs through August 22, 2026, and honors Saar's 100th birthday.
- Over 200 objects include costume designs, garments, jewelry, theatrical ephemera, and photographs.
- The exhibition covers the 1950s–1970s, a period when Saar designed costumes for the Inner City Cultural Center.
- Saar joined ICCC through a Ford Foundation–funded theater training initiative with UCLA.
- She became the center's first costume mistress.
- Other centennial celebrations include 'Betye Saar's Black Dolls' at the New York Historical Society.
- Saar's work is in major museum collections including MoMA, Whitney, Met, LACMA, and Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Entities
Artists
- Betye Saar
- Joseph Cornell
- Simon Rodia
- Curtis Tann
- Richard Saar
- Alonzo Davis
- Len Chandler
- Bennie Maupin
- Ishmael Reed
- Gordon Parks Jr.
- Rachel Rosenthal
- George Takei
- Carmen de Lavallade
- Robert Ito
- Nobu McCarthy
- Edward James Olmos
- Forest Whitaker
- Marquette Frye
- Tyler Mitchell
- Christina Nielsen
- Julie Roberts
- Tracye Saar-Cavanaugh
- Lezley Saar
- Alison Saar
- Marguerite Ray
- Olga Adderley Chandler
- Virginia Wing
- Lee Clark Champion
- Ruth Warshawsky
- Antoneka Howard
- Nadyne Turney
- Elizabeth Keeney
Institutions
- Roberts Projects
- Inner City Cultural Center
- Ford Foundation
- UCLA
- New York Historical Society
- Pasadena Art Museum
- Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
- Museum of Modern Art
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Pasadena City College
- California State University, Long Beach
- House of Fabrics
- Home Silk Shop
- Butterick
- Simplicity
- LACMA
Locations
- Los Angeles
- United States
- Laurel Canyon
- Watts
- Pasadena
- California
- New York City
- New York