Decade: Autoportrait '72 (Penobscot) 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:
"This print reflects the dominant colors of the island—the blue of both sky and sea, the green of the spruce and the white snow of winter. That year I made my second visit to the Caribbean with my dealer in New York and Paris, Denise René, staying at Sapphire Bay on the island of St. Thomas with much the same colors prevailing except that the 'white' was sand."