La Chunga

"LA CHUNGA", MICAELA FLORES AMAYA (Marseille, 1938).
"Self-portrait".
Pastel on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 62 x 47 cm.
Artistic muse of writers like Blas de Otero, Rafael Alberti, José Manuel Caballero Bonald or León Felipe, and of several painters like Picasso, Dalí or Francisco Rebés who catapulted her as an attractive figure of intellectuals and encouraged her to paint and exhibited her works of naïf style in cities like Paris or Madrid. Her parents were Andalusian gypsies living in France when she was born. At the age of one year the family returned to Spain, settling in Barcelona. At a very young age she started dancing in "ca la Rosita", a very well known Bodega del Parallel due to the parties and verbenas they used to organize. As she grew up she continued dancing in different bars in her neighborhood in Barcelona. It was there where she was discovered by Paco Rebés, in one of his improvised street performances. He became her godfather and protector, promoting her as a renowned dancer and taking her under the tutelage of the best instructor of the moment in Barcelona. Pastora Imperio hired her in 1956 as a dancer and, thanks to Ava Gardner, she appeared in two Hollywood films. The impresario Sullivan presented her in Las Vegas, she participated in several American television programs and performed in New York and Mexico. Since then she participated in numerous tours around the world and intervened in several films such as La cogida y la muerte.