Marisol

Sculptor, painter, and graphic artist, born in Paris, France. Of Venezuelan parents, she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julien in Paris (1949), then moved to New York (1950) where she continued her studies at the Art Students League (1950), the New School (1951–4), and the Hans Hofmann School (1951–4). She specializes in wooden sculptures of human figures and has exhibited widely, her own face often appearing in her work. Among her works are ‘The Family’ (1961) and ‘Woman and Dog’ (1964).

Marisol Escobar (born May 22, 1930), otherwise known simply as Marisol, is a sculptor born in Paris of Venezuelan lineage, living in Europe, the United States and Caracas.

Her education consisted of study at Jepson Art Institute, École des Beaux-Arts, the Art Students League of New York, and she was a student of Hans Hofmann, and at the New School for Social Research. The pop art culture in the 1960s found Marisol as one of its members, enhancing her recognition and popularity. Marisol concentrates her work on three dimensional portraits, using inspiration “found in photographs or gleaned from personal memories” (Gardner, p.15).

Marisol’s religious beliefs might very well have had a great deal of influence upon her tendencies toward and character for the arts. Her father moved Marisol and her brother to Los Angeles after World War II and their mother’s untimely death where Marisol began her study in the arts. It was Marisol’s father who reinforced her interest in art and supported Marisol in her decision to continue along its course. Marisol studied in Paris, France in 1949, returning to study in New York in 1950.

From 1951 to 1954 she took courses at the New School for Social Research while studying under her most influential mentor, the so-called ‘dean of Abstract Expressionism,’ Hans Hofmann. At Hofmann’s schools in Greenwich Village and Provincetown, Massachusetts, Marisol became acquainted with notions of the "push and pull" dynamic: of forcing dichotomies between raw and finished states. During this period, Marisol was introduced to New York's Cedar Tavern, the chief watering hole for many of the leading Abstract Expressionists with whom Marisol became friends, particularly Willem de Kooning.

It was in 1951, when Marisol discovered Pre-Columbian artifacts that she decided to give up painting and attend her focus to sculpture. However, Marisol found herself plagued with self-doubt and ventured to analyze herself and her work as she moved abroad. Moving back to New York, she found a tremendous amount of success, culminating in her work finding home in a number of prestigious museums. Marisol sought to envelop herself in the area of abstract expressionism. “The heavy seriousness of this movement prompted Marisol to seek humor in her own work, which was essentially carved and drawn-on self-portraiture”(p.24).

It was the following decade in the 1960s that Marisol began to be influenced by pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. It is intriguing to note that Marisol dropped her family surname of Escobar in order to divest herself of a patrilineal identity and to "stand out from the crowd." (“Escobar, Marisol.”)

Marisol drifted through many movements, though her style has always been unique.

Marisol’s diversity, unique eye and character set her apart from any one school of thought. Marisol as well includes her interpretation of the suffering in the human condition in some of her artwork such as “Dust Bowl Migrants” and “Father Damien.” Her respect for Leonardo da Vinci led her to complete a sculptural representation of “The Last Supper” and “The Virgin with St. Anne” (Gardner, p.12).

Marisol has received prestige and honor for her talent and unique voice and has had the opportunity to influence, fascinate and speak to viewers. Marisol maintains an outward diffidence, foiling her inner stability.

Marisol is a “sculptor of modern life.” She “evokes the venality of social climbers, the integrity of great artists, the contradictions of the powerful and the quiet dignity of dispossessed” (Berman, p.14). September 22, 2003 Gardner, Paul "Who is Marisol?" Marisol Escobar, Pop Art.