Celeste Woss y Gil

rdf:langString Celeste Woss y Gil

rdf:langString Celeste Woss y Gil

rdf:langString Celeste Woss y Gil

rdf:langString Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

rdf:langString Art education, Painting

rdf:langString Celeste Agustina Woss y Gil (5 May 1891 – 1985) was a Dominican Republic painter, educator, and feminist activist, remembered as one of the most influential Dominican artists from the 20th century. Born in Santo Domingo and daughter to former president Alejandro Woss y Gil, she was 12 years old when her family left the country in exile after her father’s second presidential term ended in 1903. She spent the rest of her early years living and studying art in Paris, Cuba, and New York City. Her style fuses post-impressionist influences from Europe with a distinctly Caribbean flavor. She is known for her nudes of Dominican Republic women and scenes of bustling marketplaces. In 1924, she put on a solo exhibition of her work, making it a landmark show for Dominican Republic art history, being the first woman to do so in that country. Woss y Gil is especially remembered as an influential educator who would go on to teach some of the most well known native artists of the 20th century. She opened a small art school in Santo Domingo in 1924, and later a painting and drawing academy in 1931. In August 1942, Woss y Gil joined the newly established National School of Fine Arts as founding faculty along with artists Josep Gausachs, George Hausdorf, José Vela Zanetti, and Manolo Pascual, later becoming the director. Among her students were artists Gilberto Hernández Ortega and Delia Weber. Woss y Gil died in 1985, aged 94–95, in Santo Domingo.