{"data":{"id":"839","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":839,"topgoose_id":1333,"tms_id":839,"display_name":"Marisol","sort_name":"Marisol","display_date":"1930–2016","begin_date":"1930","end_date":"2016","biography":"\u003cp\u003eBorn Maria Sol Escobar in Paris to\nVenezuelan parents, the artist Marisol\nmoved to Los Angeles at age fifteen and\nstudied for a time with the painter\n\u003ca href=\"/artists/612\"\u003eHans Hofmann\u003c/a\u003e in New York. Rebelling\nagainst the dominance of Abstract\nExpressionist painting in the mid-1950s,\nshe turned to sculpture, forging a distinctive\napproach that combined elements of\nSurrealism, Pop art, assemblage, and\neven folk art in her arrangements of large-\nscale figures. Marisol frequently used\nher own image—drawn, painted, sculpted,\nphotographed, and carved—for both\nthe male and female figures of her tableaux,\nwhich have depicted everything from\nmonstrous, oversized children to John\nWayne on horseback, a dinner date,\nwomen at a cocktail party, a wedding,\nand \u003cem\u003eT\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003ehe Last Supper\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach of the four life-sized blocky female figures in the sculptural assemblage \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1533\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWomen and Dog\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is a self-portrait of the artist, carved from wood and painted. One of the figures incorporates a black- and-white photograph of Marisol; the multiple faces on two of the others were cast in plaster directly from the artist herself; while the small figure is a representation of Marisol as a child. Each sports a fashionable outfit of the period, accessorized with found objects that include a real purse and hair bow. Although the work explores variations on the generic midcentury American woman, Marisol, commenting on the piece in 1964, claimed to have been “inspired by the dog.” Indeed, the stuffed dog head—which the artist purchased from a taxidermist—is a central element of the piece; the animal, tethered by a leash, becomes another kind of accessory to these well-heeled ladies.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500027334","wikidata_id":"Q438248","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:20:15.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-28T07:02:29.546-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/839/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/839/exhibitions"}}}}