The Jazz Wall

Description

One of the few female Pop artists, Marisol is known for juxtaposing flat surfaces with dimensional forms, painted and collaged elements with sculpted ones, and scavenged materials with handmade objects. As she stated in 1963, “I like to make combinations that seem incongruous—wood with plaster, pencil drawing on wood—but finally I put things where they belong: a hand at the end of an arm, a nose in the middle of the face . . . a mouth a little below the nose.” A more thematic or metaphorical incongruity animates the monumental Jazz Wall: the work is literally silent and still while summoning the expansiveness of collaborative sound.

Provenance

The artist; sold through Stable Gallery, New York, to Harry N. Abrams, Feb. 24, 1964 [According to affidavit from the artist and sales and accounts document from Stable Gallery; copies in curatorial object file]; returned to the artist, New York, Oct. 1, 1964 [letter; copy in curatorial object file]; sold through Sidney Janis Gallery, New York [via the Arts Club of Chicago], to Leonard J. and Ruth P. Horwich, Chicago, Dec. 20, 1965 [invoice from the Arts Club of Chicago; copy in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, July 6, 2016.

The Jazz Wall

Marisol

1963

Accession Number

228882

Medium

Wood, found objects, paper, and paint on wood

Dimensions

241.3 × 271.8 × 35.6 cm (95 × 107 × 14 in.)

Classification

wood

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of The Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Foundation