27 Facts About Fanny Rabel

Fanny Rabel, born Fanny Rabinovich, was a Polish-born Mexican artist who is considered to be the first modern female muralist and one of the youngest associated with the Mexican muralism of the early to mid 20th century.

Fanny Rabel worked as an assistant and apprentice to Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, painting a number of murals of her own during her career.

Fanny Rabel created canvases and other works, with children often featured in her work, and was one of the first of her generation to work with ecological themes in a series of works begun in 1979.

Fanny Rabel was born Fanny Rabinovich on August 27,1922 in Poland to a Polish-Jewish couple from a family of traveling actors.

Fanny Rabel's family was cultured with her sister Malka becoming a theatre critic.

Fanny Rabel met a group of exiled Spaniards in Mexico along with Antonio Pujol, who invited her to take part in a mural project headed by him, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Joseph Renau, Luis Arenal, Antonio Rodriguez Luna and Miguel Prieto.

Fanny Rabel entered the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" shortly after it was established in 1942, taking classes with Jose Chavez Morado, Feliciano Pena and Frida Kahlo, with whom she became close friends.

Fanny Rabel was the only female in this group, learning alongside Guillermo Monroy, Arturo Garcia Bustos and Arturo Estrada.

Fanny Rabel changed her last name from Rabinovich to Rabel during her career.

Fanny Rabel married urologist Jaime Woolrich and had two children Abel and Paloma Woolrich, both of whom became actors.

Fanny Rabel lived for decades in an apartment on Martinez de Castro Street in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood in Mexico City.

Fanny Rabel was almost evicted from her apartment at this time as it was deemed unsafe, but she continued living there until she died on November 25,2008.

Fanny Rabel was survived by her daughter Paloma and her grandchildren.

Fanny Rabel had her first exhibition of her work in 1945 with twenty four oils, thirteen drawings and eight engravings at the Liga Popular Israelita with Frida Kahlo writing the presentation.

Fanny Rabel had a large exhibition at the museum of the Palacio de Bellas Artes to commemorate a half century of her work.

Fanny Rabel is considered to be the first female muralist in Mexico.

Fanny Rabel was an assistant to Diego Rivera while he worked on the frescos for the National Palace and an apprentice to David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Fanny Rabel created murals at the Unidad de Lavaderos Publico de Tepalcatitlan, Sobrevivencia, Alfabetizacion in Coyoacan in 1952 Sobrevivencia de un pueblo at the Centro Deportivo Israelita Hacia la salud for the Hospital Infantil de Mexico, La familia mexicana at the Registro Publico de la Propiedad and at the Imprenta Artgraf.

Fanny Rabel was a member of the Salon de la Plastica Mexicana and the Taller de Grafica Popular, joining both in 1950.

Fanny Rabel's work was featured at an exhibition called Fanny Rabel y Mujeres del Salon de la Plastica Mexicana held at the Jose Vasconcelos Library.

The Salon de la Plastica Mexicana had a retrospective of her work after he death called Retrospectiva in Memoriam, Fanny Rabel held at the Museum of the Universidad Popular Autonoma del Estado de Puebla.

Fanny Rabel is considered to be the first modern female muralist in Mexico although she did significant work in painting, engraving, drawing and ceramic sculpture.

Fanny Rabel's work has been classified as poetic Surrealism, Neo-expressionism and is considered part of the Escuela Mexicana de Pintura as one of the youngest muralists to be associated with it along with Arnold Belkin and Jose Hernandez Delga.

Fanny Rabel was more drawn to depicting mankind's pain rather than happiness, sharing other Mexican muralists' concerns about social injustice.

Fanny Rabel was economically prosperous, something which bothered her as she worried about exploiting the poor for art.

Unlike artists who avoided the news and popular culture as to not poorly influence their art, Fanny Rabel attended concerts, listened to the radio and was a fan of film from both Mexico and Hollywood.

Fanny Rabel was one of the first of her generation to develop themes related to ecology, the changes in Mexico City, against technocracy and emphasis on commerce.