Mary Belle de Vargas was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana, on March 4, 1902, the daughter of a local jeweler and optometrist.[1]
Born without arms, she soon learned to use her strong legs, feet and toes, in place of her missing arms and hands; she was able to feed and groom herself, to write, draw and paint.
While cared for, throughout her life, by her family, de Vargas earned a college degree from Louisiana State Normal College in 1932 and, for the last 16 years of her life, worked actively as an artist from her own studio in Natchitoches. She won regional and national awards for her art, gave art lectures, taught art classes, and headed several professional art organizations.[2]
Of frail health, weighing only 52 pounds as a grown woman, de Vargas died in 1946 at the age of 44.[2]
Three years after her death, her friend Gualterio Quinonas published a biography, The Armless Marvel, Mary Belle.[3]