Betye Saar - 2020 Wolf­gang Hahn Prize

The Ge­sellschaft für Mod­erne Kunst am Mu­se­um Lud­wig purchased the as­sem­blage The Di­vine Face from 1971 to­gether with the Mu­se­um Lud­wig for the mu­se­um’s col­lec­tion as part of the prize award­ed to Be­tye Saar. The work will be pre­sent­ed in the mu­se­um’s col­lec­tion from June 1 to Septem­ber 12, 2021 along with two etch­ings re­cent­ly ac­quired through the “Per­len­such­er am Mu­se­um Lud­wig” ini­tia­tive as well as a col­lage and an artist’s book. The film Be­tye Saar: Tak­ing Care of Busi­ness, which was pro­duced by the Los An­ge­les Coun­ty Mu­se­um of Art (LAC­MA) for an ex­hi­bi­tion there in 2019/2020, will al­so be shown as part of the pre­sen­ta­tion. This recog­ni­tion of the artist, who was born in Los An­ge­les in 1926 and is still lit­tle known in Ger­many, is long over­due, the ju­ry con­sist­ing of Chris­tophe Cher­ix, Robert Leh­man Foun­da­tion chief cu­ra­tor of draw­ings and prints at the Mu­se­um of Mod­ern Art (Mo­MA) in New York; Yil­maz Dziewior, di­rec­tor of the Mu­se­um Lud­wig; and the board mem­bers of the as­so­ci­a­tion de­cid­ed. For more than fif­ty years, Be­tye Saar has cre­at­ed as­sem­blages from a wide va­ri­e­ty of found ob­jects, which she com­bines with draw­ing, prints, paint­ing, and pho­tog­ra­phy.

Due to the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic, the award cer­e­mony and pre­sen­ta­tion for Be­tye Saar have been post­poned to ear­ly sum­mer 2021. On May 30, 2021, the Amer­i­can artist will be award­ed the twen­ty-sixth Wolf­gang Hahn Prize by the Ge­sellschaft für Mod­erne Kunst am Mu­se­um Lud­wig via Zoom.

Guest ju­ror Chris­­tophe Ch­er­ix on Be­­tye Saar: “Be­­tye Saar’s work oc­cu­pies a piv­o­­tal po­si­­tion in Amer­i­­can art. Her as­sem­blages from the 1960s and ear­­ly 1970s in­­ter­weave is­­sues of race, politics, and su­per­­na­t­u­ral be­lief sys­tems with her per­­so­n­al his­­to­ry. Hav­ing grown up in a ra­­cial­­ly se­g­re­­gat­ed so­­ci­e­­ty, Saar has long held that art can tran­s­­cend our dark­­est mo­­ments and deep­­est fears. To­­day, the emer­­gence of a new gen­er­a­­tion of artists min­ing her poig­­nant le­­ga­­cy attests to how pro­­found­­ly Saar has changed the course of Amer­i­­can art. The 2020 Wolf­­gang Hahn Prize not on­­ly ac­­knowl­­edges her ex­­traor­d­i­­nary achieve­­ments and in­­flu­ence, but al­­so rec­og­nizes the need to re­vis­it how the his­­to­ry of art in re­­cent de­­cades has been writ­ten.”

This recog­ni­­tion of the artist, who was born in Los An­ge­les in 1926 and is still lit­­tle known in Ger­­many, is high­­­ly time­­ly, the ju­ry con­­sist­ing of; Chris­­tophe Ch­er­ix, Robert Le­h­­man Foun­­da­­tion chief cu­ra­­tor of draw­in­gs and prints at the Mu­se­um of Mod­­ern Art (Mo­­MA) in New York; Yil­­maz Dziewior, di­rec­­tor of the Mu­se­um Lud­wig and the board mem­bers of the as­­so­­ci­a­­tion de­­cid­ed. For more than fif­­ty years, Be­­tye Saar has cre­at­ed as­sem­blages from a wide va­ri­e­­ty of found ob­­jects, which she com­bines with draw­ing, prints, pain­t­ing, and pho­­tog­ra­­phy.

The Ge­sellschaft für Mod­­erne Kunst ac­quired the as­sem­blage The Di­vine Face for Mu­se­um Lud­wig’s col­lec­­tion. This work will be pre­sen­t­ed along­­side some works on pa­per by the artist in the col­lec­­tion of the Mu­se­um Lud­wig.

#Wolf­­gang­Hah­n­Preis #M­Lx­Be­­tye­Saar