Harvard Art Museums > M24231: Blow Top Blues: The Fire Next Time Prints Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Blow Top Blues: The Fire Next Time (Betye Saar) , M24231,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 25, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/190794. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number M24231 People Betye Saar, American (Los Angeles, CA born 1926) Title Blow Top Blues: The Fire Next Time Classification Prints Work Type print Date 1997 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/190794 Physical Descriptions Medium Lithograph and collage Technique Lithograph Inscriptions and Marks inscription: Verso in pencil: Inscribed: 97.618 inscription: l.l in yellow pencil: AP 4 Blow Top Blues: The Fire Next Time Betye Saar 1998 stamp: l.r: Solo Press Impression Provenance Recorded Ownership History [G. W. Einstein Company, Inc., New York, New York], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, October 4, 1999. State, Edition, Standard Reference Number Edition A/P 4 Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund Copyright © Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California. © 1997 Betye Saar Accession Year 1999 Object Number M24231 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Lithograph collage using white wove paper varnished over the figure at the lower right. Cut out eyes painted over with colored wash. Commentary Betye Saar first received national acclaim with her famous The Liberation of Aunt Jemima of 1972. An assemblage which featured the derogatory Mammy of the flapjack mix armed with grenades and a rifle standing behind a symbolic fist of black power, the work imploded feminist and racist stereotypes, and it is to this theme of militant Mammies that Saar returns in this print. Here, Aunt Jemima is devoid of grenades and rifle, but is armed rather with a bandana inscribed 'LIBERATION,' from which shoots out a profusion of fearsome flames. Fire is a recurring sign of the occult that the artist often combines with contemporary imagery to suggest her exploration of a cross-cultural past couched in the present. In this print, a varnished lithographic cut-out of Aunt Jemima juts out from the lower corner over a standard lithographic background of orange/red flames that contrast against the predominantly blueish purple field. The print presents some enigmas of technique for a mass-produced planographic work: each letter on the bandana has been embellished with a depressed linear outline, while the cut-out eyes of the figure seem to have been washed over with additional color. For the last decade, Betye Saar has enjoyed a collaborative partnership with her daughter Alison-"power-gathering" Saar calls it. Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
