However, in New York, where Abad lived briefly in the 1970s, while studying painting at the Art Students League, her work has been scarce. The Museum of Modern Art owns nothing by her, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art just acquired its first piece. During her life, she proposed shows to U.S. museums and received around 100 rejection letters, her family has said. MoMA PS1 is hosting the first retrospective dedicated to Abad, which was organized by Victoria Sung at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where it ran last year. It consists of more than 50 works, and while it should be two or four times larger — she was protean and prolific — it is still thrilling.

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Persons: Pacita Abad, Abad, Victoria Sung Organizations: Art Students League, Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walker Art Center Locations: Singapore, Asia, Manila, New York, Minneapolis