The Party

Artist Marisol (Escobar) (American (born France), 1930-2016)

Date1965-1966

DimensionsDimensions variable

Mediumpainted and carved wood, mirrors, plastic, clothes, shoes, television set

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineMuseum Purchase Fund, by exchange

Object number

2005.42A-P

Not on View

DescriptionAssemblage of fifteen freestanding, life-size figures and three wall panels, with painted wood and carved wood, mirrors, plastic, television set, clothes, shoes, glasses, and other accessories.

Label Text“I never wanted to be a part of society. I have always had a horror of the schematic, of conventional behavior. All my life I have wanted to be distinct, not to be like anyone else. I feel uncomfortable with the established codes of conduct.” —Marisol Have you ever felt alone in a crowded room? Marisol Escobar, known as just Marisol, was born in Paris to Venezuelan parents and was a prominent member of the 1960s New York art and social scene. But she claims that while she attended many parties, she always felt alienated from everyone else. The tension between conformity and self-expression is evident in The Party. Each face of the 15 life-size figures is modeled on Marisol’s own—whether photographed, carved, or cast in rubber or plaster. One or two seem nervous; most seem self-absorbed; all seem isolated from one another. Amusing, satirical, even biting, The Party highlights Marisol’s personal alienation from the rituals of high society, while communicating a broader commentary on the shallowness inherent in some forms of social interaction.Published ReferencesAn exhibition of new work by Marisol, New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, 1966, no, 8, p.8-9, 12, 18, repr. cover.

Kessler, Elizabeth, Adventures in Values, New York, 1970, p. 384.

Bullock, Alan, The Twentieth Century: A Promethean Age, London, Thames & Hudson, 1971.

Haggerty, Susan, Man and His Fiction, New York, 1973, cover.

Barrs, Myra, Identity, West Drayton and Middlesex, Penguin Education Series, 1973.

David, Clive, "Parties," Holiday, Indianapolis, 1975.

Fine, Elsa Honig, Women and Art, London, 1978, p. 220.

The Art of Man, Washington, D.C., The National Gallery of Art, 1985.

Epstein, Vivian, History of Women Artists for Children, Denver, 1987, p. 25.

Martin, Mary Abbe, " Artist Regroups her 15 Mingling Figures Adding a Bit of Tourism," Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 4, 1988, pp. 14-15.

Gardner, Paul, "Who is Marisol?", Art News, May 1989, p. 149.

Whiting, Cecile, "Figuring Marisol's Femininities," Revue canadien d'Art, XVII, 1-2, 1991, pp. 78-87.

Boime, Albert, "The Postwar Definition of Self: Marisol's Yearbook Illustrations for the Class of '49," American Art, Spring 1993.

Noguchi, Sawako, ed., Contemporary Great Masters: Marisol, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1993, p. 20.

Brown, Kent, ed., "Marisol," in Highlights for Children, January 1993.

Anger, David, "The Cocktail Party," Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine, November 1995.

Whiting, Cecile, A Taste for Pop, Cambridge, UK, 1997, p. 227.

Barlow, Margaret. Women Artists, Southport, 1999, p. 271.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 336-37, repr. (col.) and (dets.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 62, repr. (col.), (dets.)

The Passionate Collector: Robert B. Mayer's Adventures in Art, self-published by the Mayer family, 2011, p. 123 repr.

Hansen, Tone; Lind, Maria, eds. No is Not an Answer: On the Work of Marie-Louise Ekman, Berlin, Sternberg Press, 2013, p. 64-65 repr.

Pacini, Marina, Marisol: Sculptures and Works on Paper, Memphis, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 2014, pp. 36-37, repr. (col.) p. 37.

Beck, Jessica, Marisol and Warhol take New York, Pittsburgh, The Andy Warhol Museum, 2021, pp. 24-28, repr. (col.) p. 25, 113-115.

Phaidon Editors, Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now, New York, Phaidon Press, 2023, p. 199, repr. (col.).

Chaffee, Cathleen ed., Marisol: A Retrospective, New York, D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, 2023, p.90, repr. (col.) fig. 99, pp. 92-93.

Exhibition History

New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Marisol, April 1966, repr. cover.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 68th Annual Exhibition, August-October 1966, repr. cover.

Venice, Venezuela Pavilion, XXXIV Bienale di Venezia, May-September 1968.

Rotterdam, Museum Baymans-van-Beuningen, Marisol, November-December 1968, cat. No. 6.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Art, extended loan, 1975-2005. Pittsburgh, PA, The Andy Warhol Museum; Miami, FL, Perez Art Museum, Marisol and Warhol: Take New York, October 14, 2021 - September 6, 2022. Montreal, Quebec, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Toledo, OH, Toledo Museum of Art; Buffalo, NY, Buffalo AKG Art Museum; Dallas, TX, Dallas Museum of Art, Marisol: A Retrospective, May 7, 2023 - June 15, 2025.