Marisol (Escobar)
Catalpa Maiden About to Touch Herself1973

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Marisol (Escobar)
Venezuela, born Paris, France, 1930–2016, active New York City
Publisher: Universal Limited Art Editions
West Islip, NY
Title: Catalpa Maiden About to Touch Herself
Date Made: 1973
Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: Sheet: 40 1/4 × 27 3/4 in. (102.24 × 70.49 cm) Frame: 44 1/4 × 31 3/4 in. (112.4 × 80.65 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Prints and Drawings Council
Accession Number: M.2021.6
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes: Born in France to Venezuelan parents, Marisol Escobar (usually referred to by her first name only) immigrated to the United States as a child. In addition to making works of sculpture and assemblage that explore themes of social inequality, she produced a rich panoply of self-portrait constructs made of wood and terracotta that often combine aspects of surrealism and eroticism with a Pop art aesthetic. Catalpa Maiden About to Touch Herself, a lithographic self-portrait in vivid red, orange, green, and blue, exhibits such dreamlike qualities. Marisol made this print while in residence at the Long Island−based printmaking center Universal Limited Art Editions. Taking inspiration from artworks and totems seen during her travels through Asia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, she integrated the shape of the leaves of a catalpa tree that stood on the property by forming stencils from the leaves, then covering the stencils in ink and pressing them onto the lithographic stone. The vaginal shape of the leaves symbolizes the artist’s sexuality; thus Marisol transformed herself into an enigmatic organic entity, connected to nature’s creative force.

Claudine Dixon

2023
Selected Bibliography: Schillo, Eve, and Claudine Dixon. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture; Ante Usted: La Captura del Ser en el Retrato. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.

Marisol (Escobar)
Catalpa Maiden About to Touch Herself1973

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Marisol (Escobar)
Venezuela, born Paris, France, 1930–2016, active New York City
Publisher: Universal Limited Art Editions
West Islip, NY
Title: Catalpa Maiden About to Touch Herself
Date Made: 1973
Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: Sheet: 40 1/4 × 27 3/4 in. (102.24 × 70.49 cm) Frame: 44 1/4 × 31 3/4 in. (112.4 × 80.65 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Prints and Drawings Council
Accession Number: M.2021.6
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes: Born in France to Venezuelan parents, Marisol Escobar (usually referred to by her first name only) immigrated to the United States as a child. In addition to making works of sculpture and assemblage that explore themes of social inequality, she produced a rich panoply of self-portrait constructs made of wood and terracotta that often combine aspects of surrealism and eroticism with a Pop art aesthetic. Catalpa Maiden About to Touch Herself, a lithographic self-portrait in vivid red, orange, green, and blue, exhibits such dreamlike qualities. Marisol made this print while in residence at the Long Island−based printmaking center Universal Limited Art Editions. Taking inspiration from artworks and totems seen during her travels through Asia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, she integrated the shape of the leaves of a catalpa tree that stood on the property by forming stencils from the leaves, then covering the stencils in ink and pressing them onto the lithographic stone. The vaginal shape of the leaves symbolizes the artist’s sexuality; thus Marisol transformed herself into an enigmatic organic entity, connected to nature’s creative force.

Claudine Dixon

2023
Selected Bibliography: Schillo, Eve, and Claudine Dixon. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture; Ante Usted: La Captura del Ser en el Retrato. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.