“A Subtlety”
This sculpture is “A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby” by Kara Walker—one of the most impactful public art installations of the 21st century.
Key Elements
The Sphinx: A 35-foot-tall, 75-foot-long figure made of polystyrene and coated in 40 tons of white sugar. It depicts an Afro-diasporic woman in a sphinx pose wearing a “mammy” caricature headscarf.
The Attendants: Fifteen life-sized sculptures of boys carrying baskets, molded from molasses and brown sugar, which slowly melted in the summer heat.
The Setting: The cavernous Domino Sugar Refinery, where decades of crusted molasses on the walls provided an intense, syrupy aroma.
Name: “A Subtlety”
Lat, Long: 40.7158326,-73.9672464
Location: New York, New York, USA
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