Jorge Eielson was a Peruvian artist and writer known for his unique Quipus paintings which utilized knotted fabric stretched across canvas. These paintings explored his fascination with the pre-Columbian Incan quipus—a storytelling system which is translated as “talking knots.” An accomplished poet and author, Eielson published the collection of poems Habitación en Roma (1952) and two novels, El cuerpo de Giulia-No (1971) and Primera muerte de María (1988) during his life. Born on April 13, 1924 in Lima, Peru, he studied at the National University of San Marcos in the early 1940s before traveling to Paris and Rome. During his early years in Europe, Eielson met artists such as Lucio Fontana, Cy Twombly, and Alberto Burri. The artist presented his first Quipus works at the 1964 Venice Biennale, and later participated in three more Venice Biennales (1966, 1972, and 1988). In the mid 1970s, he returned to Peru where he focused on the study of pre-Columbian art. During the same time, the Instituto Nacional de Cultura of Peru began publishing his oeuvre of poetry. Though his visual art mostly consisted of paintings, he also produced performance, sculpture, and esoteric projects—including a proposal to NASA to send one of his sculptures to the moon. Eielson died on March 8, 2006 in Milan, Italy. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museo de Arte de Lima, and the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, among others.