Peter Saul
Peter Saul – Self-Defense, 1969
Acrylic on canvas
172,7 × 243,8 cm
“I wanted my art…not to be in the middle. My feeling about politics in art is that it’s usually feeble, because it delivers the expected message. The expected message is dead on arrival, because all it does is point out that the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad. I wanted work that was far, far more troubling. If a picture isn’t troubling, why even think about it?” – Peter Saul
Self-Defense is a groundbreaking painting in which Peter Saul challenged sixties America to consider its rising social tensions. Created in 1969, during the height of the Black Panther movement, it stands as one of the key works in Saul’s series of politically charged paintings from that era, highlighting the civil rights struggles and societal conflicts of the time.
Saul’s approach to art often includes elements of humor and satire, even when addressing serious social issues. Self-Defense depicts academic and activist Angela Davis, who was persecuted by the U.S. government for her involvement with the Black Panthers, defending herself against a pair of police officers whose distended forms reach across a caricatured version of the Golden Gate Bridge. This artwork reflected Saul’s position at the forefront of the counterculture and his engagement with pressing questions of race and inequality.
Combining hyperchromatic Day-Glo colors and caricatures of American culture, Saul employed his signature style to push the boundaries of what painting can achieve. The work went beyond what other pop-art artists dared to explore, making a bold statement through its vivid and provocative imagery.
Exhibitions:
‘Peter Saul: San Francisco’. Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco. January 13–February 26, 2022
‘Peter Saul: Crime and Punishment’, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. curated by Massimiliano Gioni and Gary Carrion-Murayari, February 11, 2020–January 3, 2021
‘Peter Saul: From Pop to Punk,’ Venus Over Manhattan, New York. February 25–April 25, 2015
‘Peter Saul: Political Paintings: 1965-1971,’ Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York. October 1–November 30, 1990
‘Peter Saul: Retrospective,’ Swen Parsons Gallery, DeKalb, Northern Illinois University, November 3–30, 1980; traveled to Madison, Madison Art Center, February 1–March 29, 1981
‘Peter Saul: New Paintings’. Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York. November, 1969
Publications:
Nadel, Dan, ed., “Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence, 1945-1976” (New York: Bad Dimensions Press, 2020), ill., p. 175 Zutshi, Vikram. “Meet Peter Saul, the Bad Boy of American Art,” Pop Matters, April 28, 2020, ill
Gioni, Massimiliano, Gary Carrion-Murayari, “Peter Saul: Crime and Punishment” (New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art; New York: Phaidon, 2020), ill., pp. 121, 124-125
Abrams, Loney, “Peter Saul’s Painting Survey Asserts a Nuanced Take on Protest and Complicity at the New Museum,” NAD NOW: The Journal of the National Academy of Design, March 11, 2020
Yau, John, “Peter Saul’s Hair-Raising Attacks,” Hyperallergic, March 29, 2015, ill
Piepenbring, Dan, “Pictures with Problems,” The Paris Review, March 31, 2015, ill
Laster, Paul, “From Pop to Punk: Peter Saul” Time Out New York, March 26, 2015, ill
Frank, Priscilla, “Meet Peter Saul, The Art World’s Resident Octogenarian Rebel,” HuffPost, February 17, 2015, ill. “Peter Saul: From Pop to Punk” (New York: Venus Over Manhattan, 2015), ill., pp. 86-87
Callahan, Sophia, “Peter Saul is Older (and Cooler) Than Your Favorite Artist,” VICE, April 20, 2015, ill
Bradley, Paige K., “Critics’ Picks: Peter Saul: Venus Over Manhattan,” Artforum, April 10, 2015, ill
“Peter Saul: From Pop to Punk.” Culture Feeder (March 19, 2015), ill
Cameron, Dan, Dennis Szakacs, Robert Storr, Peter Saul, and Michael Duncan, Peter Saul (Newport Beach: Orange County Museum of Art, 2008), ill., p. 24
Cameron, Dan, “Peter Saul: Political Paintings”, 1965-1971 (New York: Frumkin/Adams Gallery, 1990), ill., p. 12
“Continuing Solos,” New York Magazine 2, no. 47 (November 24, 1969), ill., p. 28.
Kind, Joshua, Dennis Adrian, Peter Saul, Peter Saul (DeKalb: Swen Parson Gallery, 1980), ill., p. 20
