Amelia PELAEZ
1896–1968, Cuba
Also known as: AP
Amelia Pelaez remains one of the most significant ‘undiscovered” artists of the 20th century. There are two principle reasons for this. The first one is that after her return to Cuba from France in 1934, Amelia (It should be noted that like Mexico’s Frida Kahlo, the artist is usually referred to by her first name and her paintings are called “Amelias”) made very few efforts to promote herself to the mainstream art world of New York and Paris. Although she had a small but select following of collectors, critics and curators (including Alfred H. Barr, founding director oof the Museum of Modern Art) she never sought recognition, letting the world come to her if she wished. The second cause of her relative obscurity is that Amelia’s life was that of a priestess of art. She did not belong to flamboyant Bohemian circles or avant garde cultural and political groups; she did not have the stormy passions of a Frida Kahlo or a Georgia O’Keefe. She was a “liberated” woman far ahead of her time and a pioneering Cuban modernist whose example was important both for her contemporaries and for younger artists, but Amelia was entirely devoted to her art and her home.
Source: http://ameliapelaez.org