# Portrait of an Unknown Lady - Hardcover

by **Maria Gainza** (Author), **Thomas Bunstead** (Translator)

**A _New York Times Book Review_ Editors' Choice**

**_New York Times_ Notable author María Gainza, who dazzled critics with _Optic Nerve_, returns with the captivating story of an auction house employee on the trail of an enigmatic master forger**

In the Buenos Aires art world, a master forger has achieved legendary status. Rumored to be a woman, she specializes in canvases by the painter Mariette Lydis, a portraitist of Argentinean high society. But who is this absurdly gifted creator of counterfeits? What motivates her? And what is her link to the community of artists who congregate, night after night, in a strange establishment called the Hotel Melancólico?

On the trail of this mysterious forger is our narrator, an art critic and auction house employee through whose hands counterfeit works have passed. As she begins to take on the role of art-world detective, adopting her own methods of deception and manipulation, she warns us "not to proceed in expectation of names, numbers or dates . . . My techniques are those of the impressionist."

Driven by obsession and full of subtle surprise, _Portrait of an Unknown Lady_ is a highly seductive and enveloping meditation on what we mean by "authenticity" in art, and a captivating exploration of the gap between what is lived and what is told.

### Author Biography

**María Gainza** was born in Buenos Aires, where she still resides. She has worked as a correspondent for _The New York Times_ in Argentina, as well as for _ARTnews_. She has also been a contributor to _Artforum, The Buenos Aires Review,_ Radar, the cultural supplement from Argentine newspaper Página/12. She is coeditor of the collection _Los Sentidos_ (_The Senses_) on Argentinean art, and in 2011 she published _Textos elegidos_ (_Selected Texts)._

**Thomas Bunstead** has translated some of the leading Spanish-­language writers working today, including Bernardo Atxaga, Agustín Fernández Mallo, and Enrique Vila-­Matas, and his own writing has appeared in publications such as _Brixton Review of Books_, _Lit Hub_, and _The White Review_. He is currently a Royal Literary Fellow teaching at Aberystwyth University. He was born in London and now lives in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

**Number of Pages:** 192

**Dimensions:** 0.7 x 8.3 x 5.8 IN

**Publication Date:** March 22, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 24.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.00 USD | In stock |

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- Portrait of an Unknown Lady - Hardcover

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