Decade: Autoportrait '71 (Isle au Haut) is a print from Indiana’s Decade: Autoportraits, Vinalhaven Suite. The print mirrors the format of his Decade: Autoportrait paintings, which the artist created in the 1970s. The paintings are a portrait of his life in the 1960s, and include references to important names, places, and events. The basic format is the same in each: a large circle set in a square canvas, with five points of a star touching the circle’s rim, and within the circle Indiana’s familiar stencil-shaped words and numbers.
The Decade: Autoportraits, Vinalhaven Suite prints, which Indiana created after moving permanently to Vinalhaven, Maine, in 1969, are a record of his life in the 1970s. The artist had been visiting the island yearly since 1969, typically spending several months in the fall working in the Star of Hope Lodge.
Indiana penned a statement explaining each individual print:
"Terre Haute in Indiana had long been a place name that fascinated me and I have done two paintings on that subject, and so did this island that I can see from Vinalhaven but which I have never visited. The high point, or apogee, of 1971 for me was the birth of my largest Love sculpture, 12 feet of Cor-ten steel, that once stood in front of the Boston City Hall, then in Central Park in New York City at Christmas, and finally to its permanent home before the Indianapolis Museum."