Artists Bio

Louisiane Saint Fleurant

(September 1924-June 2005)

She was a Haitian female artist. Saint Fleurant's paintings often depict maternal scenes of females, children, trees, wildlife, and Haitian Vodou Loas. Her folk painting style is often colorful and vibrant and expresses a distinct female perspective on the Saint Soleil movement and Haitian Vodou art. 

She is another leader of the Saint Soleil art movement.  Her whimsical painting style often depicted children.  She expressed her Saint Soleil beliefs in her own maternal way.  She was one of the Cinq Soleil (Five Suns): Prosper Pièrre-Louis, Louisiane Saint Fleurant, Dieuseul Paul, Denis Smith) art movement. These artists had branched out of the Saint Soleil movement. She has been featured in Galeries in Europe, Asia  and the United States.

 

Andre Blaise

Ti-Andre Blaise is the youngest of the four Blaise brothers, all well-known Haitian painters, and with Serge Moleon, is one of the two who are still alive. The other two were the internationally known St. Louis Blaise who died at age 38 of a rare blood disease (which was not AIDS) and Fabolon Blaise, who passed at age 28 of a mistreated stomach ulcer .

Andre was born in Cap Haitien in January 1961 although he does not know the date, according to the excellent book Artistes en Haiti, by Michele Grandjean.

His mother was a vendor of fruits and vegetables and his father was a mechanic and tax collector in the markets of LeCap. By the time he was 12, Andre was living in Carrefour painting in the company of his famous brothers. In the Blaise atelier it was not uncommon for more than one brother to work on the same painting. After experimenting with various styles, Andre seems to have settled on painting fish. He portrays them with human characteristics , great humor and the technical virtuosity that is characteristic of the Blaise family. He has two children and lives in Port-au-Prince.

 

Alexandre Gregoire

(August 1922 - July 2001)

Born August 29,1922 in Jacmel, Haiti, Alexandre Gregoire was one of the last of the 20th century Haitian "primitive" artists. He spent most of his adult life in the army, rising to be a musician in the palace band under President Magloire in the fifties. He was introduced to painting by Gerard Valcin at the Centre d’Art in 1968. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Musée d’Art Haitien and the Waterloo Museum of Art in Iowa, and is published in Island on Fire (Demme, 1997). Alexandre Gregoire passed away on July 28, 2001, in Jacmel. You may read a more extensive obituary published by the Haiti Support Network.

 

 Yordan Dabady

 

 Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1962.

If you look closely at Dabady's paintings, you will notice that the people are wearing mismatched shoes and socks. Dabady does this to impress upon the viewer that the people of Haiti are very poor; they wear whatever is at hand. Style and fashion are not options that they can afford.

At eleven years of age, Yordan began his professional education studying painting and ceramics at the Salesian Brothers School. While there he studied under Fritzner Mervil and Dieudonne Cedor. In 1975 Dabady received a certificate in painting which certifies his ability to paint using any medium.

Dabady’s first professional experience was working at the deVendegies workshop and he remained there for six years becoming the chief decorator. Then he had a misunderstanding with the owner, left the workshop and moved on to begin his career as a true artist.

The early works of Yordan were of the “gingerbread” style and these are the works that he presented to the more popular local galleries. Yordan is married and has three children.

 

Jean Claude Blanc

 

Jean-Claude Blanc born in Cap Haitien on April 24, 1965. His father, a farmer, also makes clairin, artisanal rum, near Milot, a village that houses the ruins of what was once the Palace of Sans-Souci, the “Haitian Versailles” of King Henry Christopher.

Jean-Claude Blanc went to secondary school, then began his professional life as a mechanic, before joining the “L’Arc en Ciel” workshop where he began to work in watercolour. In early 1983, he sold his first work…
He now lives in Port au Prince and lives from his art...

The works of Jean-Claude Blanc have enjoyed phenomenal success in Haiti in recent years, no doubt because better than any other, the artist strives to translate with stubborn optimism the festive character of Haitian society. Market scenes, carnival, Mardi Gras "rara" procession, peasants at work in the provincial plantations... Blanc, fully in line with the tradition of the "modern primitives" who made Haitian painting famous, focuses on describe the realities of the country in a style that makes the detail and precision of the drawing one of the characteristic signs of his work.

 

Edner Jean 

Born in 1955, he studied painting at an early age under the instruction of Philome Obin. As a young painter, Edner chose scenes of country life and historical subjects that retrace the epic of the battle for independence of Haiti in 1804. Edner lives in Cap-Haitian where he paints scenes of cotton fields harvested by peasants. When asked, he admits that he doesn’t know where the idea to paint cotton fields came from. Cotton fields are found largely in Gonaives, a place he now visits frequently. He has been included in many international collections and is published in the following: “Kunst aus Haiti” by Ute Stebich, as well as the more recently published “Artistes in Haiti” by Michele Grandjean.

 

Calixte Henri

( 1933 - 2010 )

Calixte was born on January 3, 1933 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His first job was as a telegraph operator. He was a member of the Centre d'Art from 1955 to 1959 when he left to study independently. In the mid 60' he joined the Galerie Monnin.

At some point he became interested in impressionism and cubism, particularly the work of Braque and Seurat and began to experiment with razor blades as a means of applying the paint. Soon he moved on to painting with a palette knife exclusively. He is one of the master painters of Haiti and has inspired and trained many students, including Lamothe, Dreux, Cameau Rameau and Hilome Jose. he has been the recipient of at least one Guggenheim grant.

Sadly, in 2009, Calixte is in declining health and his vision is almost totally gone and died in 2010.

 

Wilson Bigaud

(1931- 2010)

Believed to have been born in 1931 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His family says he was 85 years old when he died in 2010. He was one of the last giants of the first generation of Haitian painters. Bigaud delighted in festivals and carnivals full of action and color. His mastery of color and illusion of volume makes his paintings the essence of Haitian life. He is considered as one of the most remarkable primitivists of the Haitian School.

According to Selden Rodman, Haitian artist Wilson Bigaud “started painting as a teenager in the entourage of Hector Hyppolite. His early pictures included vodou , glimpses (not without a flavor of satire) into the domestic life of the elite, and crowded street scenes that had a wealth of carefully observed detail but were always well composed.” He met DeWitt Peters in 1946, joined the Centre d’Art, and was encouraged to paint. His customary themes were Haitian everyday life and Haitian vodou, represented with his very characteristic subtle colors and golden light. In 1951, he was one of the Haitian artists chosen to execute the landmark murals in the Episcopal Cathedral of Sainte Trinite, which tragically collapsed in the earthquake of January, 2010. He suffered from depression for much of his life, and after a severe mental breakdown, began to paint again, perhaps with less soul, but with a verve and dynamism that brought to life the joy and energy of his beloved Haitian culture. He was one of the great Haitian masters and his examples of Haitian artwork appear in museums worldwide. A renowned Haitian painter, he died in Petit Goave, Haiti, on March 22, 2010.

 

Albott Bonhomme

Self-taught artist, Albott Bonhomme was born in 1963 in Port-de-Paix, Haiti. He studied at Maximilien Coicou in his hometown northwest Haiti. Later in 1985 he graduated as an industrial mechanic at the Commercial Training School in Port-au-Prince. From 1986 to 1989, he studied painting alone. He develops his own style. He became professional in 1990.This artist has a very personal style: very colorful birds in a very rich vegetation, oasis-like setting. He has exhibited around the world and his art is highly regarded by many collectors internationally, primarily in the United States and Japan.

 

Simeon Michel

Simeon Michel was born on August 26, 1953, in Pilate, Haiti. He started to draw at an early age and later developed his unique style characterized by beautiful Flamboyant Trees and the Haitian countryside that makes his paintings instantly recognizable to collectors. He exhibited in Haiti and the United States. His art is also cited in many Haitian art books. His artwork is by no doubt an excellent choice for any collector.

 

Saincilus Ismael 

(1940 - 2000)

Ismael Saincilus was born in Petite Riviere de l'Artibonite in 1940 and died in 2000. He began drawing at age seven, then started to paint in 1956 after viditing the Centre d’Art and the Foyer des Arts plastiques. He completed his studies at Freres de Saint-Marc and Lycee Antenor Firmin. Today, he is considered one of the foremost contemporary Haitian painters. His works depict a mixture of voodoo and Christianity. He is renowned for his "madonnas." He was the director of the ceramics center in Deschapelles. He has trained many students, among which Michelange Altidort and Carlos Jean Baptiste.

 

Carel Blain

 Self-taught Haitian portrait painter Carel Blain was born on September 23, 1961, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, raised within the art community of Petion-Ville. He obtained his classical education at the College Roger Anglade and then went to Miami, where he studied at the Lindsey Hopkins Technical College. He began painting portraits and children of the villages in the 1990s. As a young child, Carel admired renowned artists Paul Cezanne and Van Gogh and local artists such as Jean Claude Legagneur, Francoise Jean, Lesly Exume, and late Carlo Dayan. His work won immediate recognition, which led him to be appreciated. He is a very talented artist whose love for painting helped him mature as a painter over the last few years. Carel is also a respected art teacher for young artists in his community. He has held many exhibitions in New York, Florida, and Haiti.

 

Rousseau Denis

He was born in Jacmel on June 26, 1962 where his father was a farmer before leaving for New York. Arriving at a very young age in Port au Prince, he finished primary school. At the age of 12 he visited galleries and museums and took up painting. His career really began in 1982, when he was 20 years old. In 1992, he was invited to exhibit in London with painters from several countries. In 1994, Japan dedicated an exhibition to him. He has participated in several group exhibitions both in Japan and in France. He has seven children and lives in Port au Prince, his son James Denis is also a painter.

 

Serge Labbe

His father, originally from Jacmel, worked as a mechanic in Port au Prince where he was born on July 5, 1960. His mother made artificial flowers. After starting his professional life in electronics, at the age of 26 he turned to his passion, painting. Camille Torchon advises him and influences him a little but he works as an autodidact. Labbé creates delicate imaginary landscapes, very stylized, with soft and soothing colors. He is a volunteer educator, he sings, he writes, he sculpts wood and stone. He has participated in group exhibitions in France and Haiti.

 

Galland Semerand

He was born in 1953 in Cap Haïtien and grew up in Port-au-Prince. He spent a year at the Academy of Fine Arts, studying books by foreign painters. A student of architecture, he is attracted by historical movements and the “gingerbread houses” of the 1900s. His work, whatever the theme, is of great finesse, the poetry transcends reality and immerses us in a universe of fairyland. 

He loves color, the light of sunsets, he observes nature and the changes in its tones over the hours, he tries to capture them. He mainly works on skies, sometimes pink or bluish, sometimes copper, always nuanced.

 

Hilome Jose

Hilomé José was born in 1947 in the town of Jérémie in the southwest of Haiti. He came to Port-au–le Prince in the late 1960s and worked as a carpenter. Through a mutual friend, he met the Haitian master Calixte Henry and began painting. He practices knife painting in a very personal style.

 

Rodrigue Molin

Rodrigue Molín, as he is known in the artistic field, was born in Santo Domingo on October 29, 1954, the son of a Haitian father and a Dominican mother. At the age of 2 his family moved to Port-au-Prince where at the early age of 12 he began to work in art under the influence of his father Ferdinand Molin. At the same time, he entered the prestigious Centre d'Art where he began his artistic training and there years later, he held his first solo exhibition. Influenced by friends in the genre as well as by his father, he entered the prestigious Foyer des Arts Plastique. By then he exhibited his works in the most prestigious galleries in the country, such as: Red Carpet, Musart, Nader, Jerusalen, Marcangreg, among others. 

Rodrigue Molín has had group exhibitions in New York, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, and Venezuela. His works are in the possession of demanding art collectors from several countries of the Americas, especially the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, among other countries.

 

Cupidon Rodrigue

Rodrigue Cupidon was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1957. He began painting at an early age. He was very fascinated with the palette knife technique, which he certainly mastered. Rodrigue developed an uncanny ability of capturing market scenes and everyday life in his paintings.