Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Art at the LBI: Marisol
Known simply as Marisol, Mariá Sol Escobar (1930–2016) was one of the most distinctive voices in postwar American art. Born in Paris to Venezuelan parents, Marisol spent her childhood between Europe, Venezuela, and the United States. Despite personal hardships and a traumatic early life, she pursued her artistic calling, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Art Students League of New York, and the New School for Social Research.
Marisol developed a unique sculptural language that blended elements of folk art, Dada, and Surrealism with sharp observations of modern society. Her works often explored identity, gender roles, and social expectations, bringing a subtle yet powerful feminist perspective to the art world of the 1960s and beyond.
These photographs from the Leo Baeck Institute's John D. Schiff Collection capture Marisol with her 1963 sculpture Dinner Date, now in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. The work exemplifies her signature style: playful yet unsettling, humorous yet deeply insightful. Through sculptures that often incorporated casts of her own face and body, Marisol challenged conventional ideas about femininity, representation, and self-image.
📸 John D. Schiff, Marisol with Dinner Date (1963), from the John D. Schiff Photographs Collection, Leo Baeck Institute.
#ArtAtTheLBI #Marisol #WomenArtists #Sculpture #ModernArt #JohnDSchiff #LeoBaeckInstitute #ArtHistory
Art at the LBI: Marisol
Known simply as Marisol, Mariá Sol Escobar (1930–2016) was one of the most distinctive voices in postwar American art. Born in Paris to Venezuelan parents, Marisol spent her childhood between Europe, Venezuela, and the United States. Despite personal hardships and a traumatic early life, she pursued her artistic calling, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Art Students League of New York, and the New School for Social Research.
Marisol developed a unique sculptural language that blended elements of folk art, Dada, and Surrealism with sharp observations of modern society. Her works often explored identity, gender roles, and social expectations, bringing a subtle yet powerful feminist perspective to the art world of the 1960s and beyond.
These photographs from the Leo Baeck Institute's John D. Schiff Collection capture Marisol with her 1963 sculpture Dinner Date, now in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. The work exemplifies her signature style: playful yet unsettling, humorous yet deeply insightful. Through sculptures that often incorporated casts of her own face and body, Marisol challenged conventional ideas about femininity, representation, and self-image.
📸 John D. Schiff, Marisol with Dinner Date (1963), from the John D. Schiff Photographs Collection, Leo Baeck Institute.
#ArtAtTheLBI #Marisol #WomenArtists #Sculpture #ModernArt #JohnDSchiff #LeoBaeckInstitute #ArtHistory
