May Henriquez (6 May 1915 – 15 October 1999) was a

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

an writer and sculptress. Henriquez wrote and translated works in Papiamentu, the Portuguese-based creole language spoken in Curaçao. She was recognised for her work for the Curaçaoan art community.

Biography

Henriquez was born May Alvarez Correa on 6 May 1915 in Willemstad,

in a family of Sephardi merchants. Her father was co-founder of

Maduro & Curiel's Bank Maduro & Curiel's Bank (MCB) is a private Dutch Caribbean bank and financial services provider headquartered in Willemstad, Curaçao that operates 23 branches and specializes in insurance brokerage, consumer banking, trust, private banking and cor ...

and her mother was a member of the Maduro family. At home, the language was

Papiamentu Papiamento () or Papiamentu (; nl, Papiaments) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), with official status in Arub ...

. After finishing high school, she was privately taught by

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

H.E. Eldermans who helped develop her interest for the arts. At age of 20, she married Max Henriquez, an engineer for Royal Dutch Shell in Venezuela, and they moved to Lagunillas, Venezuela. During World War II, her husband started to work for Maduro & Curiel's Bank, they returned to Curaçao and took up residence in

Landhuis Bloemhof Landhuis Bloemhof is a plantation house, art gallery and museum in Willemstad, Curaçao. The house was built in 1735 as ''Landhuis Nooitgedacht''. During the 20th century, the house was owned by May Henriquez, a sculptress and writer, and became a ...

. In 1947, they moved to

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

for business, where Henriquez enrolled in a sculpturing course with Ernest Maragall. Between 1949 and 1953, she would spend several months a year in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where she was taught by Ossip Zadkine. Atelier May Henriquez

Henriquez set up a studio in the carriage house of Landhuis Bloemhof. She started to take interest in the Curaçao cultural scene, and in 1950 was co-founder of the Scientific Library which is nowadays part of the

University of Curaçao The Dr. Moises Frumencio da Costa Gomez University of Curaçao, formerly University of The Netherlands Antilles (UNA; nl, Universiteit van de Nederlandse Antillen), is the state university of Curaçao. It is a public university, graduating appro ...

, and became chairperson of the Cultural Advisory Commission of Curaçao. Her estate developed into a meeting place for the art scene attracting artists like Cola Debrot,

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

and

Peter Struycken Peter Struycken (born 5 January 1939 in The Hague) is a Dutch artist, and the brother of actor Carel Struycken. He won the 2012 Heineken Prize for Arts from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of ...

. In 1953, Henriquez started translating plays in Papiamentu. The play ''Ami, Dokter? Lubidá!'', a translation of ''

Le Médecin malgré lui ''Le Médecin malgré lui'' (; "The doctor/physician in spite of himself") is a farce by Molière first presented in 1666 (published as a manuscript in early 1667) at le théâtre du Palais-Royal by la Troupe du Roi. The play is one of sever ...

'' by Molière, was successful. This encouraged Henriquez to start translating and adapting more works into Papiamentu. Henriquez was considered a talented sculptor. and remained active until the mid 1970s when she started to focus on writing. In 1981, Henriquez published ''Yaya ta konta'', a collection of original stories based on the oral traditions of Curaçao. In 1988, she published ''Ta asina o ta asana?'', a study on the influence of the Sephardi Jews on the development of Papiamentu for which she was awarded the

Pierre Lauffer Pierre Lauffer (22 August 1920 – 14 June 1981) was a Curaçaoan writer and poet who mainly wrote in Papiamentu. He is considered one of the greatest poets of Curaçao. Biography Lauffer was born on 22 August 1920 as Pierre Antoine Lauffer. He g ...

Prize. In 1982, Henriquez started to work for Maduro & Curiel's Bank, and became the president of the bank in 1996. In 1985, she became Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Henriquez died on 15 October 1999.

Legacy

After her death, Landhuis Bloemhof, the estate where she lived, was turned into a museum and art gallery in her honour. Henriquez had acquired an extensive art collection and library during her lifetime. In 2017, Henriquez became the 12th Outstanding Woman of Curaçao for her work promoting Papiamentu. In the same year, she was also honoured with a postage stamp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henriquez, May 1915 births 1999 deaths People from Willemstad Curaçao writers Curaçao Jews Papiamento-language writers Curaçao artists Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau

Biography

Legacy

See also

References