As part of the artist’s centennial celebration, Betye Saar plans to be in attendance, along with other contributors, to sign copies of the publication.

Roberts Projects is delighted to present Let’s Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar, a landmark publication organized around Saar’s early work in costume and jewelry design during the 1960s and 1970s, exploring how this formative period profoundly shaped her pioneering work in assemblage and installation. Through original drawings, essays, archival materials and installation images, the book traces Saar’s evolution from designer to artist, revealing the enduring connections between her wearable creations and her broader visual language.

From theatrical costumes to leather accessories and jewelry, Betye Saar’s early wearable artworks are as transformative as her assemblages. Until now, this part of her creative life has remained largely unseen and seldom studied, understood as an appendage to the work she made in more traditional fine art mediums rather than being central to them. The archivally-driven publication features newly commissioned scholarship alongside rare photographs, sketches, jewelry, garments and ephemera from Saar’s personal archives, offering fresh insight into the artist’s lifelong engagement with materials, memory and Black cultural expression. By drawing connections between creative pursuits previously considered separate and distinct, Let’s Get It On provides a radically new assessment of Saar’s complex and innovative practice and how it evolved throughout her life as a mother and artist.

An introduction by Julie Roberts examines the role that costume design played throughout Saar’s life and details how the digitization of her archive allowed for the development of the exhibition. In her preface, Elspeth Carruthers, Executive Director, Neubauer Collegium for Culture & Society at The University of Chicago, considers the legacy of Saar’s work following the exhibition of Let’s Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar at the Collegium. A new interview by CCH Pounder explores Saar’s theater and costume designs from 1968–70. Neil Lane’s text reflects on his long friendship and creative collaboration with Saar. In his essay, Dieter Roelstraete, Curator, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, explores the material and institutional history of Saar’s work in costume design. Alexandria Ryahl’s essay analyzes the theatrical components of Saar’s costume designs and considers how they informed her work in assemblage and installation. Tracye Saar Cavanaugh reflects on her childhood growing up in a household where art and life were inseparable from the beginning. Mary Skarbek’s essay considers Saar’s work for the theater as being intertwined not only with her artistic career, but also as an important source of income as she raised her family. An essay by Zoé Whitley constructs a brief history of the Inner City Cultural Center, a multicultural performing arts institution founded in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, where Saar contributed to early productions.

The book also includes a custom-designed sewing pattern by Saar, inspired by her studio practice, and featuring comprehensive instructions, precision-cut pattern pieces and an exclusive artist-designed iron-on. With its extensive array of reproductions of never-before-seen objects, personal reflections and fresh scholarship, Let’s Get It On provides an invaluable resource for understanding the full scope of Saar’s creative practice and her influence across generations.

Published to accompany the exhibition, Let’s Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar, presented at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture & Society, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (January 30–April 27, 2025), and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California (May 30–August 22, 2026).