Bookmarks in the Pages of Life

Betye Saar, artist

born 1926

The Limited Edition Club, publisher

Zora Neale Hurston, author

1891–1960

Bookmarks in the Pages of Life, 2000

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: letterpress; screen print

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 390 x 295 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 3/8 x 11 5/8 in
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): cover 390 x 295 x 25 mm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 15 3/8 x 11 5/8 x 1 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Lucy Shaw Schultz Fund and Chancellor's Funds

Accession number: 2001.0023

On display: Marshall Balcony

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Images

Label texts

A group of Hurston’s short stories and folk tales including “High John de Conquer,” first published in 1943, was published in 2000 with accompanying images by Saar. Hurston’s tale of a black folk hero who could buoy the entire nation during WWII concludes:

“So the brother in black offers to these United States the source of courage that endures, and laughter, High John de Conquer. If the news from overseas reads bad, and the nation inside seems like it is stuck in the Tar Baby, listen hard, and you will hear John de Conquer treading on his singing-drum. You will know then, that no matter how bad things look now, it will be worse for those who seek to oppress us. Even if your hair comes yellow, and your eyes are blue, John de Conquer will be working for you just the same. From his secret place, he is working for all America now. We are all his kinfolks. Just be sure our cause is right, and then you can lean back and say, ‘John de Conquer would know what to do in a case like this, and then he would finish it off with a laugh.’”

Archive Label 2003:
The African-American artist Betye Saar selected and illustrated this collection of six short stories by Zora Neale Hurston, and includes: Bone of Contention, Magnolia Flower, High John De Conquer, The Conscience of the Court, Mother Catherine, and Now You Cookin’ with Gas.

Hurston has most often been associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the black cultural revolution of the 1920s. University-trained in anthropology, she collected folk tales, published novels, and wrote short stories, plays, and musical revues. Her attention to the vernacular of black folk culture of the time caused a furor among her peers. Regardless of the criticism, Hurston welcomed drama and publicity in her life, taking on many conflicting personas that continue to intrigue readers and biographers today. She was an intimate friend of Langston Hughes until they quarreled over rights to their co-written play, “Mule Bone.” Both authors contributed to the flowering of the Harlem Renaissance with such literary efforts as selections for the journal, Opportunity Magazine.

Betye Saar also took on controversial subjects for her art. Beginning with the assemblages created in the late 1960s, the artist has deliberately incorporated stereotypical and derogatory images such as Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, and Little Black Sambo figures. She deconstructs racism through the transformation of negative stereotypes into positive images, noting the intent to transform a negative, demeaning figure into a positive, empowered warrior ready to combat servitude and racism. From a diverse ethnic background herself, Saar uses such things as bits and pieces from Mexican Christianity, Far Eastern religion, and African voodoo traditions to invent her own vocabulary from cultural artifacts, and claiming that her goal is to show cultural differences and universal similarities.