The History of Haitian Art

The country of Haiti features historical artwork.

The history of Haitian art began in the 1940s when an artist (and schoolteacher) relocated to Haiti from California. After establishing an art school and training center, he discovered several "nobody" artists and helped them become famous for their artwork. Haitian art is sold heavily in South America and the Caribbean, and is recognized on a global level.

Peter's Vision

The history of Haitian art began in 1943 when DeWitt Clinton Peters moved to Haiti to teach high school English as an alternative to military service during World War II. Peters was also talented in the area of watercolor painting and was shocked when he found out there wasn't an art gallery that exhibited paintings in Haiti. He envisioned himself opening up an institution that would teach talented Haitians that art was a respectable way to make a living.

Le Center d'Art

In 1944, the Haitian government donated a building to Peters after he turned in his teacher resignation letter. He wanted the building to serve as a school and an art gallery. According to Haitianpainting.com, "Haitians could receive academic instruction in both drawing and oil techniques." Peter named the building Le Center d'Art.

Discovering Artists

One of the first Haitian artists discovered by Peters was a Voodoo priest named Hector Hyppolite, who used chicken feathers and leftover house paint to create his artwork. After Peters realized how successful Hyppolite was, he started to seek out other local artists who had a variety of backgrounds. Artists like a clerk named Philome Obin, a bookkeeper named Toussaint Auguste and a taxi driver named Rigaud Benoit are just a few names of many talented people that Peters found. According to Haitianpainting.com, these first-generation Haitian artists were "hungry and motivated enough to pursue the dream of becoming an artist."

Selden Rodman

The paintings that the artists were creating at Le Center d'Art were passionate about translating their environment and religious ideas on canvas and cardboard. By 1947, Selden Rodman became the co-director of the building and convinced Peters that the artists were mature enough in their paintings to began painting on "immovable walls of public buildings." In reference to Haitianpainting.com, Rodman set up and directed the artists work "on the murals of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince." After their work was complete in 1951, the murals grabbed international attention and developed numerous primitive artists who became well known for their artwork.

Haitian art

Through the experience of becoming an artist at Le Center d'Art, the artists were able to express their artwork of telling the history of Haiti and about their own daily lives. That has become the theme for Haitian artwork. Presently, the country represents self-taught and trained artists whose artwork is extremely popular throughout the Caribbean.

References

• The history of Haitian Art
• A brief history of Haitian Art