Pocahontas
Artist
Marisol
(French, 1930 - 2016)
Date1976
MediumColor lithograph
Dimensions26 × 19 5/8 in. (66 × 49.8 cm)
SignedThe work is signed in pencil, dated and numbered 12/175 at the lower right corner.
Portfolioedition 12/175
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2024.22
Not on view
Label TextInspired by a 1616 engraving, Marisol’s version inverts
the color scheme to depict Pocahontas (c. 1596–1617)
as a person of color. The earlier engraving was
made while Pocahontas, who had married the
colonist John Rolfe, was touring England to publicize
the Virginia Company, chartered to colonize the
eastern coast of America. In both prints she wears
period British attire—hat, ruff, and embroidered
coat—concealing her Indigenous heritage to
portray the “civilizing” project of colonization. The
inscription underscores this
transformation, revealing
Pocahontas’s bestowed
Christian name: “Motoaks
[or Matoaka], as Rebecka
daughter of the Mighty
Prince Powhatan… and
wife to the John Rolfe.”ProvenanceBonhams Prints & Multiples Summer Splash online auction
(New York) in August 2024 to Chrysler Museum of Art.
No Date
