Animations:

Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Through September 5
Exhibitions & Events
Featured event:

Block Party
Join us June 6
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Through September 5
Exhibitions & Events
Featured event:

Block Party
Join us June 6
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

The Trickster

1994

Betye Saar

Associated Names

Betye Saar

Artist, American, born 1926

This sculpture has a tall, rust-colored rectangular body with a thin rectangle or cylinder on top of it, resembling a tower or smokestack. It is made of a textured, weathered material and features circular indents of different sizes across its surface. At the top of the cylindrical protrusion, there are thin metal rods fanning outward, some with a faint red color. A chain with keys dangling from it hangs around the tall tower, similar to a necklace. Below the chain, in the rectangular body of the sculpture, the two largest circular indents have red marks inside them, making them look like eyes. The base of the sculpture is thin and flat.

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.

Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

Medium

mixed media assemblage
Credit Line

Purchased as the Gift of Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John Davison Rockefeller IV
Dimensions

overall: 226.06 × 68.58 × 31.12 cm (89 × 27 × 12 1/4 in.)
Accession Number

2021.85.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist, Los Angeles; purchased 25 September 2021 through (Roberts Projects, Los Angeles) by NGA.

Associated Names

Roberts Projects

Exhibition History

1994

Limbo: A transitional State of Place, Santa Monica Museum of Art, 1994.

2020

Mojo Rising, California State University, Los Angeles, 2020.

2021

Betye Saar: Serious Moonilight, Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, 2021, unnumbered catalogue (published 2022).

You may be interested in