Name: ______________________________________Mr. Vedder – Studio in Art
Marisol Assemblage Sculptures
 Marisol Escobar, otherwise known simply as Marisol, is a painter and
sculptor born in Paris, but worked in New York City.
 Marisol began her career as a painter, but in 1951, Marisol discovered
pre-Columbian artifacts, that she decided to give up painting and shift her
focus to sculpture.
 Marisol’s new inclination led her to work with terracotta and wood. She
remained primarily self-taught in sculpture, though she studied one clay
course in a New York institution.
 Marisol concentrates her work on three-dimensional portraits, using
inspiration “found in photographs or gleaned from personal memories”.
 She gained wide recognition in the 1960s for her mixed-media figure
groups; the juxtaposition of blockish inert forms and their painted, castplaster, or found-object features.
 However, Marisol found herself plagued with self-doubt, left for five years
travel abroad to analyze herself and her work. She successfully freed her
doubts and honed her skills. Moving back to New York, she found a
tremendous amount of success, culminating in her work finding home in a
number of prestigious museums.
 It was in the following decade of the 1960s that Marisol began to be
influenced by pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
 Though she is often associated with Pop art of the 1960’s, she
incorporated many influences into her work (folk art, pre-Columbian art,
Cubism, collage) and thus defies classification. Pop Art classification
enhanced her recognition and popularity.
 One of her best-known works from this period is The Party, a life-size
group installation of figures at the Toledo Museum of Art.
 Marisol’s diversity, unique eye and character set her apart from any one
school of thought.
 In 1982-1984, her respect for Leonardo da Vinci led her to make a lifesized sculptural representation of herself contemplating her full-sized
sculpture of The Last Supper.
 Marisol continues to work on new pieces. Her newest compositions tend
to be, compared to her previous works, of a smaller scale.
 As of 2014, she lives in the Tribeca district of New York City, and is in frail
health.
What is Assemblage?
Assemblage is a form of sculpture comprised of "found" objects arranged
in such a way that they create a piece. These objects can be anything
organic or man-made.
Assemblage art is non-traditional sculpture, made from re-combining
found objects.
Proportion - refers to the comparative, proper, or harmonious relationship of
one part to another or to the whole with respect to size and quantity.
Movement - Suggestion of motion; action of people or things; visual flow
Contrapposto - is an Italian
term that means counterpose. It is
used in the visual arts to describe a
human figure standing with most of
its weight on one foot so that its
shoulders and arms twist off-axis
from the hips and legs.
References:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/marisol.html
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/r/marisol-time-covers.html
http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary/g/a_assemblage.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contrapposto