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PORTRAITS OF FAMILES were carved by Marisol out of mahogany boards, then nailed together into groups. Marisol, here holding mallet and chisel, got the idea for these stern figures from an early American coffee grinder created in the shape of a man. Since then she has carved four families, has more on the way.

LATIN BEAUTY'S HOST OF STERN PEOPLE, STARING PETS
For the past four years a quiet Latin beauty who goes only by her first name of Marisol has been fashioning a host of wood images-families, cats, totem poles and queenly ladies. When they were finally exhibited in New York City this year their rough-hewn contours and staring countenances startled and charmed gallery-goers One critic, interpreting for the reticent young sculptor, termed her art a " creative pursuit of spiritual ancestors."
Marisol's sculpture surprises 28 year old Marisol(her last name is Escobar) almost as much as the art world. Born in Paris of  Venezuelan parents, she decided to become a painter when she was 16 and spent the next few years studying at art schools in Los Angeles, Paris and New York,. In 1951 Marisol saw a New York exhibition of pre-Columbian sculpture whose earthy and artful portrayals of animals and people captivated her. For three years she thought about them, then one day began to create her own wide eyed variety of people and animals, first in clay, then in wood. Within a year she was working full time at sculpture. Thought she has not done painting since 1954, Marisol occasionally brightens up her wood families with painted faces and cloths. but most of the time she resists the urge to color her sculpture, "People don't like it painted," she said regretfully. "they would say i was not serious."