Maruja Mallo
Maruja Mallo was a writer of lists, such as the names and phone numbers of influential friends like Pablo Neruda, but also lists full of phrases about herself. “Energy, equilibrium, talent,” is scrawled in her phone book from Buenos Aires; “very pronounced Apollo”, “great artistic and organising talent”, “efficient success all over the world (correcting the defects like talking without thinking, treading on shaky ground)”.
It’s true that Mallo was often as wild in speech as she was in dress and was chastised for both in the press. Cloaked in her fur coat, her face at times as heavily painted as her paintings, the press spent as much time describing her unconventional behaviour, like riding a
