The Party
The Party
Artist
Marisol (Escobar)
(American (born France), 1930-2016)
Date1965-1966
DimensionsDimensions variable
MediumAssemblage of 15 freestanding, life-size figures and three wall panels, with painted wood and carved wood, mirrors, plastic, television set, clothes, shoes, glasses, and other accessories.
ClassificationSculpture
Credit LineMuseum Purchase Fund, by exchange
Object number
2005.42A
Not on View
DescriptionWoman with elongated head and a silver bow on top, front of body.
Label TextI 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. Have you ever felt alone in a crowded room? Marisol Escobar, born in Paris to Venezuelan parents, 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 ReferencesMedina, Jose Ramon, Marisol, Caracas, Ediciones Armitano, 1968, repr. (col.) p.99, 10, 102, 104, 107, 109, 111 (dets.).
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.
Grove, Nancy, Magical Mixtures: Marisol Portrait Sculpture, [Washington?]: Smithsonian Institution Press, cop. 1991, p. 23, fig.15, p. 25.
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.
The 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.
Frigeri, Flavia, Art Essentials: Pop Art, London, Thames & Hudson, 2018, pp. 118, 120, repr. (col.) p. 121.
Beck, Jessica, Marisol and Warhol take New York, Pittsburgh, The Andy Warhol Museum, 2021, pp. 24-28, repr. (col.) p. 25, 113-115.
Rudick, Nicole, "Faces in Places", Apollo, December 2023, (64-73), repr. p.68-69 (col.).
Exhibition HistoryNew York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Marisol, April 1966, repr. cover.
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 Institute of Art, extended loan, 1975-2005.
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