Isabel "Bela" Duarte (1940 — 20 June 2023) was a Cape Verdean artist.
Born on São Vicente, Cape Verde in 1940, she studied decorative arts in Lisbon, Portugal and took the drawing course at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes . By 1974, she returned to Cape Verde and taught drawing. [1] Together with Manuel Figueira and Luísa Queirós, [2] [3] she created the Cooperativa da Resistência (The Resistance Cooperative), later the Centro Nacional de Artesanato (CNA) to preserve traditional Cape Verdean crafts. [3] There she taught weaving, tapestry, and batik. [1]
Bela Duarte made her works and painted in oil and acrylic, batik maker, webbing and one other. In 1992, along with Queiros, she presented in a gallery in Mindelo "azul + azul = verde" for batik, craftsmanship and artist. [4]
In the 1970s, Bela Duarte successfully took place in numerous art exhibitions in Cape Verde, Belgium, Portugal, France, and the United States. [1] For her batik work in 1995, she was received by the national cultural institute the renominated Fonte Lima Prize.[ citation needed]
In 2023, she was scheduled to participate in the "Alma das Ilhas Tour" arranged by Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva. [5] However, she died in the afternoon on 20 June. The following day, her death was announced by Minister of Culture Luisa, who said her art is "immortalized". [1]
Source: [1]