Untitled Photograph of Alicia Penalba.

Vintage gelatin silver print, np, nd. (ca. 1965-1970). Sheet: 29 x 20.5 cm, image: 23 x 21 cm. VG.

Press photo? of Argentinian sculptor Alicia Penalba (1913-1982) at work with assistants. Penalba ran away from her childhood home to escape her domineering father and studied art in Buenos Aires and eventually in Paris, choosing to use her mother's name professionally rather than her patronym (Pérez). She found great success in Europe and the US, with monumental public commissions alongside smaller works, jewelry, and decorative objects. She won the Grand Prize at the São Paulo Biennial in 1961, and participated in Documenta II and III. Her 1968 retrospective exposition Totems et tabous. Lam, Matta, Penalba, at Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris solidified her status alongside two other recognized masters of Latin American modernism.