Maria Gainza (Author) Maria Gainza was born in Buenos Aires, where she still lives. She has worked as a correspondent for The New York Times, as well as for ArtNews. For more than ten years she was a regular contributor to the magazine Artforum. Her debut novel, Optic Nerve, was published by Harvill Secker in 2019.
'There are many pleasures to be had in reading Portrait of an Unknown Lady: its sublime, transcendent sentences, its arch and shadowy figures. Most of all, the zone to which you are transported, which is a Buenos Aires of canvases, trap doors, and dreams' -- Amina Cain, author of INDELICACY 'Vividly detailed and saturated with intricate feeling, Gainza's novel is an engrossing exploration of authenticity, obsession, and the enveloping allure of art' -- Alexandra Kleeman, author of SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN