ZURICH.- From 17 April to 23 August 2026, the Kunsthaus Zürich presents the first retrospective in Europe of the work of María Sol Escobar (1930–2016), known as Marisol, an American artist of Venezuelan heritage. The exhibition spans five decades of her artistic career and offers a new experience of an exceptional oeuvre that blends popular culture, satire and social analysis in striking fashion.

In the 1960s, Marisol was one of the most enigmatic personalities on the New York art scene. Her painted, often life-size wooden sculptures, which she combined with everyday objects, caused a sensation. She coupled elements of popular culture, Dada and folk art with self-portraits to create unmistakeable and frequently satirical ensembles. Andy Warhol, with whom she was close friends and who cast her in a number of his films, called her the ‘first girl artist with glamour’.

BETWEEN CONTINENTS AND IDENTITIES

Marisol’s biography is dominated by movement between continents and cultures. Born in Paris in 1930 to wealthy Venezuelan parents, she spent her childhood between Europe, Venezuela and the United States. She experienced major upheavals at a young age: when she was 11 years old, her mother took her own life. For more than a decade thereafter, she spoke only when absolutely necessary. Later, her reserved and mysterious appearance helped make her a figure of particular fascination within the New York scene.

In 1949, Marisol began studying at the École des beaux-arts in Paris, but soon moved to New York, where she attended institutions including the Hans Hofmann School. Much of her learning was self-taught. In 1957, Leo Castelli showed her first solo exhibition in New York. Her breakthrough came with exhibitions at the Stable Gallery in 1962 and 1964. At Sidney Janis’s gallery, she was presented alongside artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle.

Her work blends US Pop Art with European nouveau réalisme, but does not fit neatly into any particular movement. She soon developed her own unique,

unmistakeable formal language. Her works adorned the title pages of Time magazine and other journals on several occasions.

MARISOL AND EUROPE

Marisol soon attracted attention in Europe as well. In 1967, the Hanover Gallery in London showed a number of new works, including ‘The Royal Family’, in a presentation entitled ‘Figures of State’. Prior to that, the Daily Telegraph newspaper had invited her to sculpt portraits of the British royal family and the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The resulting full-length sculptures combine delicacy with subtly biting humour.

In 1968, Marisol represented Venezuela at the 34th Venice Biennale, with eight ensembles that, among other things, critically examined the role of women in Western society. That same year, she was one of only four women among 150 artists at documenta in Kassel. Also in 1968, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam staged the first – and, to date, last – monographic museum exhibition by the artist in Europe.

WITHDRAWAL AND RE-EVALUATION

The global protests of 1968 and their violent suppression led Marisol to withdraw temporarily from the art scene. She travelled around Asia, studied Eastern philosophy in depth and, while diving, discovered a new pictorial subject in the underwater world. She also became increasingly interested in environmental issues.

From the 1970s onwards, she shunned the limelight, but continued to work. In addition to sculptures, she created drawings, prints, photographs as well as stage sets and costumes for dance companies. Later, she also made monuments for the public space. Despite remaining productive, she became increasingly forgotten.

It was not until an appraisal of her estate, which she had bequeathed to the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, that she was comprehensively re-evaluated in North America. Between 2023 and 2025, the continent hosted a highly regarded monographic, travelling exhibition that visited Montreal, Toledo, Buffalo and Dallas, initiated and curated by Cathleen Chaffee, the Charles Balbach Chief Curator at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum.

FIRST MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE IN EUROPE

Following on from this presentation, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg are jointly staging the first comprehensive retrospective of Marisol’s oeuvre in Europe. The exhibition is being created in close collaboration with the Marisol Estate at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. The survey at the Kunsthaus Zürich brings together approximately 100 works: around 60 sculptures and objects, some 40 works on paper and photographs, and a selection of films and archive materials – a large proportion of which are being shown in Europe for the first time. In addition to key, iconic pieces, it presents less-known groups of works that illustrate Marisol’s formal innovativeness and the acuity of her social criticism.

Marisol’s radical art deals with central issues of the 20th and 21st centuries: the role of women, the traditional image of the family, social injustice, capitalist structures, the treatment of political power and celebrity. With irony and precision, she exposes social constructions and at the same time creates multi-layered self-images. The exhibition rekindles an awareness in Europe of an artist whose work seems more relevant than ever today.

PUBLICATION AND ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME

The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated publication in German and English designed by Lena Huber, which focuses for the first time on Marisol and Europe. Contributions by Cathleen Chaffee, Sandra Gianfreda, Lisa Ortner-Kreil, Esmee Postma and Marijana Schneider shed light on various aspects of her work and its reception.