Perle Fine, a self-reliant and gifted artist, left an indelible imprint on the annals of American art history. Sponsored by Willem de Kooning, she was one of the first women to enter the 8th Street Artists' Club, a space inspired by Parisian salons where artists, writers, and thinkers gathered in the late 1940s. There, she was selected by her peers to participate in the famous Ninth Street Show, an exhibition held in 1951 in Greenwich Village, New York, marking a milestone in the promotion of abstract expressionism. She set up her studio in Long Island, a popular residence for many New York School artists, where she mingled with Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. Her career was marked by a myriad of solo and group exhibitions as well as dedicating a large portion of her life to teaching.

Reflecting on her work, she stated: 'I never saw myself as a student or a teacher, but as an artist. When I paint, I think about the future. If a work doesn’t stand the test of time, then I’m not tempted to create it.'

'I don’t want to be seen as a woman, but as a good artist, someone who can compete with the best.'