Attributed to Amelia Pelaez, it does not have a COA. Medium: oil canvas, 41 x 33.5 inches. Provenance: private owner.
Biography: 1896 - 1968. Amelia was born in 1896 in Yaguajay, in the former Cuban province of Las Villas (now Sancti Spi­ritus Province). In 1915, her family moved to Havana, to the La Vibora district, and this gave her the opportunity to enter the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" at the rather late age of 20 years (students at this academy usually start at 12-13 years of age). She was among Leopoldo Romanach's favourite students. By 1924, she exposed her paintings for the first time, along with another Cuban female painter, Mari­a Pepa Lamarque. She transferred to Europe in 1927, and established herself in Paris, although she paid short visits to Spain, Italy and other countries.In Paris, she took drawing courses at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere (1927), and later entered the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, and the Ecole du Louvre. In 1931, she started studying with female Russian painter Alexandra Exter. The Zak Gallery hosted her paintings in 1933, and next year she returned to Cuba.She received a prize in the National Exposition of Painters and Sculptors in 1938, and collaborated with several art magazines in Cuba, such as Origenes, Nadie Parescia and Espuela de Plata. In 1950 she opened a workshop at San Antonio de los Banos, a small city near Havana, where she dedicated herself, until 1962, to her favourite pastime: pottery. She sent her paintings to the Sao Paulo Art Biennial in 1951 and 1957, and participated in 1952's Venice Biennale. In 1958 she was a guest of honour and integrated the International Jury of the first Inter-American Paints and Drawing Biennale.Aside from painting and pottery, she dedicated time to murals, located mainly at different schools in Cuba. Her most important works of this type are a 65-foot-tall (20 m) ceramic mural at the Cuban Ministry of Internal Affairs (1953) and the facade of the Habana Hilton hotel in 1957.She died in Havana in 1968.

All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms:

Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

Mint, based on the description