Haitian Art

To Buy Haitian Art and Help Haiti

2009-11-06T13:39:00.000-05:00

November 5, 2009

Once again, collectors, gallery owners and museum curators with money in their pockets and budgets have a fabulous opportunity to go bargain-hunting for Haitian art. The occasion: the fall two-day Slotin Folk Art Auction in Buford, Georgia. which takes place this weekend. It begins on Saturday, November 7th at 10 a.m., followed by a continuation on Sunday, November 8th at 12 noon. Photos of all items, mostly American folk art, can be found on the website www.slotinfolkart.com. There are no reserve prices, which means the estimates are just that -- if there are no bidders at the expected opening prices, buyers can bid lower and walk away with some real treasures.

Along with the great paintings by folk art masters like Bill Traylor, Howard Finster and Clementine Hunter, among many others, there is a choice sampling of art from Haiti. A Sully Obin painting "Soldier" is estimated at an impossibly low $200 to $300. Also under-estimated at $200 to $400 is "Yellow Face with Snakes," an outstanding framed painting by Prospere Pierre-Louis measuring 23.5 inches by 27.5 inches. A central sun with four balanced pale yellow flowers in the composition makes it especially serene and pleasing. There is even a rare painting called "Woman" by Louisianne Saint Fleurant, estimated at between $800 and $1,200. Complete charm is exuded by Gerard Paul's "Boat Concert," estimated at $200 to $400. A stellar Pierre Joseph Valcin "Dancing in the Garden" is estimated at between $300 and $400.

Vodou bottles with more painting and collage elements than beading, metal sculptures of powerful dimension by Murat Brierre, and an other-wroldly "Yellow Man" painting by Lony, a name unknown to me, round out this small, superb selection of art for auction. There is some great stuff here so good luck to all the bidders in securing these special pieces. To email the auction house, write to auction@slotinfolkart.com. To telephone, dial 1-770-532-1115.

Helping Haiti is the point of another event. "Rebuild Haiti: Mission Possible!" is the name of a fundraiser to be held Friday, November 13th at the Coral Gables Congregational Church, 3010 De Soto Boulevard in Coral Gables, Florida (across from the Biltmore Hotel) from 7 to 10 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to R.S.V.P. by November 10th. There will be a silent auction, wine reception, entertainment and display of Haitian crafts. The special guest is Edwidge Danticat, the famed Haitian-American author and 2009 recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award. All money generated will go to Haitian development programs that promote sustainability. For more information or to R.S.V.P., telephone 1-305/448-7421.

--Candice Russell

Silent Auction Fundraising Event

2009-10-18T17:23:00.000-04:00

Another opportunity to buy great Haitian art exists for residents and visitors of Washington, D.C. From Octboer 23 to November 6, the Embassy of Haitia, in collaboration with Studio Exhibitions, is presenting "Back to Back/Face to Face: The Art of Haiti and the Dominican Republic." This silent auction fundraising event will benefit Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti. You don't have to be a bigwig or someone with connections to President Obama to attend. It is free and open to the public.

With an opening reception on October 23 from 6 to 9 p.m., artists participating in the show will attend. They include Turgo Bastien, Christinne Maryse Coliman, Blondel Joseph, Claes Gabriel, Nadine Lafond, Yvon Fleurival, Iliana Garon, and Scherezade Garcia. The embassy is located at 2311 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest in the nation's capital. We hope that a lot of money is raised for a very worthy cause and people leave the event with Haitian art in hand, becoming unintentional ambassadors for the largest outpouring of superior art in the world.

--Candice Russell

Major Benefit with Major Haitian Art

2009-09-21T12:10:00.000-04:00

September 20, 2009

While the art market languishes along with the global economy, even the giants in the field are suffering. Recently the auction house Sotheby's reported a shocking drop in revenues internationally, from $50 billion to $25 billion -- a fifty per cent drop in one year. That includes everything from French Impressionist paintings to rock'n'roll memorabilia and Chinese jade.

In a creative way to get people's attention, Aderson Exume is selling off a portion of his private collection of Haitian art in order to benefit six Haitian non-profit organizations (unspecified in his email to me). The event takes place on Saturday, September 26th from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Washington, D.C. home of author Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, often seen as a political commentator on television, and his wife Marcia Dyson. The entrance fee for this afternoon of Haitian art, cuisine and music is a pricey $250 per person, so the casual or unmonied art lover can't even get in the door.

This is a high rollers' art sale. Included among the artists are such impeccable names as Hector Hyppolite and Philome Obin, reportedly represented by two masterpieces each, Rigaud Benoit, Castera Bazile, and Wilson Bigaurd. The list of names to make a true collector salivate continues with Gerard Valcin, Marcel Wah, Georges Liautaud, Gabriel Leveque, Louverture Poisson, Alexander Gregoire, Pierre-Joseph Valcin, Gerard Paul (rare to find), La Fortune Felix and Jacques Richard Chery. There is even one work by Jean-Claude Legagneur, whose enormous canvases and modernist style are popular with wealthy Haitian expatriates.

I wish everyone at the event all the best and sincerely hope that truckloads of money are raised because Haiti needs help. For more information about the art to be sold at the show, please email Mr. Exume at exumefineart@aol.com.

--Candice Russell

A Great Haitian Humanitarian Has Died

2009-06-21T21:45:00.000-04:00

June 21, 2009

The Reverend Gerard Jean-Juste probably did more for Haitian refugees in South Florida and, by extension, all of the country in his lifetime, than anyone else. A Catholic priest and a humanitarian, he defended the rights of this beleaguered minority and lived to see the growth of Haitian political power in Miami as more and more Haitians won elective office. So with these facts in mind, it is no wonder that when he died on March 27th following complications from a stroke and respiratory problems, people came by the thousands to mourn his passing.

According to a timeline in the Miami Herald, Jean-Juste moved to Miami in 1978 and was hired as the director of the Haitian Refugee Center. Eventually he had his own grass roots political watchdog group called Veye Yo. He returned to Haiti in 1991 for the inauguration of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president in Haiti's history. But arrests on the basis of weapons possession and murder and suspension from his parisih duties at St. Claire Catholic Church were signs that he could be a divisive figure at a time when taking a stand in Haiti can have dire consequences. Released from jail, he continued to officiate mass and feed neighborhood children. All the charges against him were eventually dropped.

Last year he received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco in recognition of his advocacy work. It was the generous, caring Jean-Juste that drew 3,000 people inside Miami's Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church in early June, while thousands more stood outside in the rain. The Haitian community has lost an important man, an eloquent spokesman for his people, and a purveyor of good in the world.

--Candice Russell

DEATH AND LIFE IN HAITI

2009-05-17T20:30:00.003-04:00

May 17, 2009

Yesterday was the funeral in Haiti for the father of my good friend, Lange Rosner. The ceremonies attendant to all aspects of life, including death, are important to Haitians. They are closer to these rituals than many other cultures in the Western hemisphere and are stronger for them, in my opinion. The funeral procession, the burial, even the screaming and crying as the coffin is lowered into the ground are part of the plan, a recipe for grieving and what Americans speciously dub “closure.”

Last weekend was the ten-year anniversary of the death of my good friend, Dr. Carlos Jara. A psychiatrist and diplomat from Chile, he came to Haiti in the late 1980s and established a solid reputation as one of the island’s foremost art dealers. To his credit, he befriended many of the artists whose work he loved. Carlos accompanied renowned Saint Soleil painter Stivenson Magloire to a Port-au-Prince cemetery late one night and performed a ritual of his own making to relieve Magloire of what he thought was an evil spell put on him by his enemies. When Magloire’s mother, Saint Soleil painter Louisiane Saint Fleurant, lay sick and near death in a rural hospital, it was Carlos who brought her the medicine she needed to make a full recovery.

The loss of Carlos was not only a terrible blow to the art world but to his beloved wife, Emeraude Michel Jara, their sons Jorgen and Sergio and Yanne, with whom she was pregnant when Carlos suffered his fatal heart attack at age 54 on May 9, 1999. No one was better at finding and encouraging the great artists of Haiti. When we made a visit to Andre Pierre (also now deceased) in Croix-des-Missions, Carlos insisted we stop at a bakery in Petionville to get the artist a special cake, which was happily received. A wonderful host, a bon vivant and raconteur, Carlos was intelligent, funny and impeccable in the way he conducted business.

His own funeral involved three speakers besides the preacher at the church in Delmas -- his oldest son Carlitos, his pregnant wife Emeraude, and myself. A one-eyed cat walked in front of me as I took the stage, which other people mentioned to me at the graveside. There was a small orchestra of young people playing somber classical music and quiet sobbing. It was a beautiful ceremony, followed by a trek to the cemetery for the wealthy near Petionville. As the coffin was lowered into a deep hole and covered with wet cement, it was nearly silent but the air was electrically charged with grief. Carlos died way too soon and all too suddenly. No one was prepared for this tragedy.

In keeping with the Haitians’ reverence for passed-away ancestors and death rituals, death is part of the subject matter used by some of the country’s best artists. Look no further than Wilson Bigaud’s painting “Zombie Being Led from the Cemetery,” incorporating a widely-held myth that the dead can rise again. It was inspired by a similar painting originated by Hector Hyppolite, the grandfather of the current Haitian art renaissance launched in the 1940s. Just like the Mexicans, whose Day of the Dead corresponds with the Haitians’ Guede ceremonies around November 1, the Haitians understand that death is part of life, less to be feared than incorporated into existence.

--Candice Russell

Haitian Art Aficionados, Take Note

2009-03-15T21:08:00.000-04:00

March 15, 2009 -- Haitian Art Aficionados, Take Note
Twice a year, Slotin Folk Art Auction in Buford, Georgia conducts major on-site auctions of wonderful folk art, primarily done by U.S. artists. Stalwarts like the late Howard Finster, known for his Christian iconography and spiritual writing on his paintings and plywood figures, are featured in the upcoming March 28th auction. But this time, there are also a number of choice Haitian artworks, including paintings and superb Vodou flags, those hand-sewn sequined and beaded wonder works that carry so much of Haitian ancestral tradition as well as contemporary ceremonial weight. There is even a superb metal sculpture made from a recycled oil drum.
What does this mean for the cognoscenti, those in-the-know folks with a few dollars to spend on expanding their collections? Bargains, for the most part, if past Slotin Folk Art Auctions with Haitian art, including one with the holdings of film director Jonathan Demme, are any indication. This auction firm is different than most, in that there are no reserves on pieces. The low estimate may be $500 on a painting, but if it doesn’t get that high on the opening bid, the work could sell for $400 or $300 or even less. Obviously, this isn’t the optimal condition for sellers of artwork at the auction. On the other hand, it’s great for buyers who may get lucky.
Prefete Duffaut followers should take special note of a painting by the master of the fantasy landscape genre. Titled “Haitian Village” and measuring 29 inches by 24 inches, it is dated 1954. The painting is from an aerial perspective of a bay with sailboats, the rooftops of large buildings and the white towers of a seaside church. In excellent condition, the painting is estimated between $1,000 to $2,000, which seems under-priced considering the earliness of the work.
Gerard, also known as Gerard Fortune (though he only signs his first name on paintings), is represented by “Rooster,” an undated paint on board work measuring 25” by 25”. This charming primitive work shows a gigantic rooster with a rope around his neck, pulling a small cart in which ride two people. Extolled by the late scholar-author Selden Rodman as being one of the best primitive artists of his generation, Gerard is a prolific artist who has yet to gain the prominence that Rodman and others like myself thought he should attain. This beautifully balanced painting shows Gerard’s control of the subject. He shades his figures by putting them in between two trees with pink trunks. Amazingly, the estimate on this painting is $200 to $400. If it went for less, the buyer would be paying a price equal to what Gerard works go for in Port-au-Prince.
Bourmond Byron, another under-valued yet famous artist, has “Homage La Sirene” in the auction. Measuring 34” by 23,” this oil on board has a scratch in the lower left corner that an art conservationist could probably restore without difficulty. Byron pictures the mermaid in control of people who have anything to do with the sea in a small lake, with people standing on shore around her. It’s a serene masterpiece with an estimate of between $500 and $800.
If you like the paintings of Jasmin Joseph, who anthropomorphizes animals in his paintings, you may be the candidate to bid on Pierre Augustin’s “Rabbits Reading Little Red Book.” Estimated to have been painted in the 1960s, this sweet painting in oil on masonite measures almost 24 inches by almost 26 inches. The rabbits are perched on a rock in the forest for their reading session.
My personal favorite is an untitled painting with religious and voodoo icons by Gerard Paul, the under-sung painter who left Haiti many years ago to work as a hospital orderly in New York. What became of him I don’t know, which is why it’s a treat to see his paintings pop up now and then at auction. Measuring 44 inches by 34 inches including the frame, this superior work pictures Ogou Feraille or Saint Jacques le Majeur also known as the conquering hero on his white horse, the Virgin Mary holding a cross, and other Erzulie Danthor, the dark-skinned Virgin Mary holding her baby. Strong primary colors distinguish this painting, estimated at between $1,000 and $1,500.
Other painters featured in this auction are Leonel, Fernand Pierre, Charles Obas, Edouard Jean, Thermofils, and Louverture Poisson. Even if you don’t bid, the catalog is a keeper.
In the field of metal sculpture, look for Brierre’s “Lady Swan,” measuring 36 inches by 70 inches and estimated between $500 and $800. The unusual subject matter and burnished copper metal material make “Hog and Snake” by Liphete Lajeunesse worthy of consideration. It measures 71 inches by 34 inches. The estimate is between $500 and $800. The sassy fat pig holds its own as the snake hisses at its face.
Vodou flags, five total, are also included in the auction. None are identified by artist, but collectors like myself can figure out who did at least two. “Erzulie Dantor -- Heart with Knife Through It,” measuring 30 inches by 30 inches, bears the intials S.J., which stands for Sylva Joseph. The estimate is between $200 and $400. “Small Dambala,” measuring 17 inches by 20,” features two green snakes of Dambala and his consort Ayida Wedo, against a pink background. The Estimate is between $100 and $300. “Man with Peace Doves and Large Knife,” measuring 35 inches by 30 inches, stylistically looks like the work of Georges Valris. The estimate is between $300 and $500.
Full-color, descriptive auction catalogs are free to anyone who calls 1-770-532-1115. Shipping costs are extra and spelled out exactly next to the artwork’s description. Absentee and telephone bids are accepted, which is how I became the winning bidder on an outstanding iron cross with heart designs by Georges Liautaud more than a year ago. I paid a little more than I wanted but I got an outstanding piece at a more than fair price.
--Candice Russell
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Art And A Contracting World Economy

2009-03-01T09:25:00.001-05:00

February 28, 2009 - The State of Things

Every week I get requests from strangers to buy or evaluate their Haitian art. With a contraction of the world economy, people are eager to liquidate their assets, including paintings and other art objects from this wonderful island country. Since I am in a position of selling rather than buying right now, I am not in a position to purchase some pieces that would I might have snapped up immediately two years ago.

A Haitian man from Miami, Florida drove one county to the north to my home, without an appointment, to sell me six paintings in the back of his car. I was only interested in one, a typical landscape scene of a waterfall with white wading birds by J.R. Bresil. The painting looked authentic and the price was reasonable, but I had to pass.

Someone else found me through my website and approached me about some lovely sculptures by the famous Georges Laratte for ridiculously low prices. Again, I had to turn away.

What I do have in stock within my own personal collection is sufficient for my needs right now. As for the Haitian art I am trying to sell on my website, eighteen small paintings and twenty-eight ceramic tiles including some by renowned Haitian-born ceramic artist Klawdia Proia were added to www.haitianna.com since January 1st of this year. Within a few days, thirty-two new Vodou flags of all sizes and prices will also be available for sale at fair prices. They include a fabulous "Erzulie Danthor" by Wagler Vital priced at $700. The image is of a half-woman, half-symbol heart design wielding a sword. Done in his inimitable folky style, this flag has tremendous spirit and whimsy.

Also among the new Vodou flags is "Erzulie Freda with Double Blue Cloth Border" by the famous Clotaire Bazile, measuring forty inches by almost thirty-six inches. Decently priced at $800, though his works go for much more, this exceptionally beautiful flag portrays the loa of love in strong colors. A sampling of small treasures by Jean Baptiste Jean-Joseph, known for his use of luxurious materials, is also on the website very soon. "Mermaid in Yellow with Trumpet" by Maxon Scylla at $600 is reminiscent of the flags by the late Antoine Oleyant.
I hope you'll take a look and find an irresistibly desirable Haitian artwork to add to your home or office.

--Candice Russell

Andre Pierre Painting - At Auction

2009-01-31T12:20:00.000-05:00

January 31, 2009

What if you had the opportunity to buy a painting by a renowned Haitian master at a bargain price? Would you forego a mortgage or rent payment and borrow funds from Aunt Sally just to get the work in your personal collection? I understand the collecting urge because I am prisoner to it on many occasions. But if the price is out of reach, it's out of reach and practicality overtakes whim in helping to decide what to do. I'll have to pass but maybe someone reading this blog will act on the information. The auction is Sunday, February 1st -- tomorrow.

These thoughts were in my head this week when an official at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries in Thomaston, Maine emailed me with nine images, including a close-up of the artist's signature, of a magnificent painting by Andre Pierre. The untitled work on canvas, measuring thirty inches by thirty-nine and three-quarter inches, portrays a group of people watching a Vodou priestess or mambo creating a veve or line drawing in the earth. This forest scene also shows a man leading a bull into a circle for sacrifice. A metal cross is in a bonfire while a sack is tied to a tree.

In strong primary colors and a style rare to find, this painting by the late Andre Pierre dates from 1967. The low estimate is $2,000 and the high estimate is $3,000. But it could go for a much higher price than $3,000. Or it could go unnoticed by Haitian art collectors because the work is the sole Haitian piece in a person's collection of more than 300 items, ranging from advertising items and Native American beadwork to bronze sculptures.

The only problem with the Pierre painting is a small puncture to the canvas, though a savvy art restorer could repair it undetectably. Ideally, either a collector or a museum will snap up this rare opportunity to own a masterpiece for very little money. To learn more, visit the web site www.thomastonauction.com or telephone 1-207-354-8141. If you access the web site, look for the February 1st part of the auction and click on 2-D art and scroll down until you find it. If you're the fortunate buyer, let me know and I'll tell your story to other readers.

-- Candice Russell

Jean Camille Nasson (1961 - 2008)

2009-01-17T16:04:00.001-05:00

January 17, 2009

It is with regret and sadness that I report the death of the great Haitian sculptor Jean Camille Nasson (1961-2008), who died last month. In a country plagued by natural disasters like floods, rampant poverty and political uncertainty, lives are cut short by a multiplicity of factors. And collectors are left wounded by the loss.

One of my favorite Haitian art possessions is an angel-devil figure carved of dark wood by Nasson. Its wings are made of metal and its head is festooned with tiny nails around which are wound brassy-colored metal threads. The figure has horns. In front of him is a metal cross attached with nails. Instead of eyes, there are empty sockets. The work is gritty and raw, yet breathtakingly sophisticated. Nasson evoked the duality of good and bad within the same personage. An explanation about this intriguing work came from Haitian art dealer Reynald Lally, who was exhibiting the work of Nasson and other cutting-edge Haitian sculptors several years ago in Miami, Florida. He said that Nasson, as a child, had been molested by a Catholic priest. This sexual attack left him with conflicted feelings about the church, which obviously were manifest in my sculpture.

Lally, who lives in Haiti, was kind enough to write about Nasson in an email to me: "His work with sculpture began at the age of eight, when a Catholic priest showed him how to make religious sculptures. He became friends with Haitian contemporary artist Mario Benjamin who showed him art books.

"Nasson started doing figures carved out of wood. He added nails, metals and other found materials. He made devils and Virgins Marys with antennas. I asked him why he placed antennas on his figures and he answered, 'So they can send and receive messages.'

"His work can be found in museums around the world including Casas de Americas in Havana, Cuba, the Vatican collection in Italy and the Waterloo Center for the Arts in Waterloo, Iowa, among other places. The new stars of Haitian art from the Grand Rue -- Guyodo, Celeur and Eugene -- were highly influenced by Nasson. He always had a smile on his face. That is how I will remember him."

Nasson's remarkable sculptures were seen in the landmark Haitian sculpture exhibition "Lespri Endepandan: Exploring Haitian Sculpture" at Florida International University's main museum in Miami, Florida several years ago, Writing for City Link newspaper at the time, I called these mixed media figures fetishistic and born of influences from Christianity and Vodou. Nasson's sculptures held their own amidst works by Georges Liautaud, Lionel St. Eloi, Pierrot Barra and Edouard Duval-Carrie, among many others. Nasson was a titan and a true original in the ever-evolving Haitian art scene.

--Candice Russell

Annual Haitian Art Holiday Sale

2008-12-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

December 18, 2008

My annual Haitian art holiday sale continues for its fourth and final weekend come Saturday and Sunday. For information and directions to my home, telephone 954/792-9887. Thank you to everyone who came, enjoyed the art work and sipped champagne. Among the avid buyers and collectors this year are Linda Stabile, Grace Barnes, and Marguerite and George Bolge, who is the executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. George is contemplating the purchase of a black-and-white painting by Saint Soleil master Levoy Exil. This rare painting from my personal collection was purchase more than twenty years ago from the Port-au-Prince gallery of the late Issa el-Saieh. Gustavo Ponzoa, the noted pianist and fanatical collector, made an appearance last weekend with photos of the newest Prefete Duffaut painting he just purchased. A good time was had by all.

Despite the global economic woes, Haitian art remains a good investment. The aesthetics of these great paintings, Vodou flags, and metal sculptures are beyond the reach of any economic recession. Their value holds. Speaking of Vodou flags, I acquired some real beauties from friend and gallery dealer Axelle Liautaud, who came this month from Haiti for a short visit. Soon they will appear on my web site, so please look for them. The prices of Clotaire Bazile Vodou flags were recently lowered in time for holiday gift-giving. These wallet-friendly beauties are done by a true genius of the sacred textile medium.

Haitian art is the cover subject of the new January, 2009 issue of "Holistic Health Magazine," for which I serve as editor-in-chief and main writer. Featured on the cover is the exquisitely beautiful painting "Peace Dove" by Eric Jean-Louis, a Haitian artist who currently resides in Miami, Florida. His transcendent vision makes this painting very special. As he explains it to me, the inspiration for the work came from the late Haitian art dealer Dr. Carlos Jara, who visited Jean-Louis' studio in Haiti and suggested he create the image of a child's hands releasing a white dove in the forest. Jean-Louis complied with the suggestion and created this work, suitable for a UNICEF greeting card, posters, or Christmas cards.

Better things are coming for Haiti in the new year. More art will soon appear on my web site.
Thank you for reading this.

--Candice Russell

Changing Art Market Bodes Well for Haitian Art Buyers

2008-04-10T06:44:00.000-04:00

April 8, 2008

A long article in the Miami Herald's business section on April 7th, 2008 is headlined "Art Enters Its Black Period." Writer Brett Sokol discusses the shifts in the market for high-end American art and cites the example of commercial mortgage broker Lang Baumgarten trying to cash in on the current boom preceding a predictable bust. This Miamian is putting a portrait of fashion designer Zac Posen by artist Alex Katz up for bid at Christie's auction house for between $200,000 and $300,000. He bought the painting for $90,000 four years ago and feels it is time to cash in before prices plunge as the U.S. copes with a period of unfortunate economic recession.

Art as investment is always a tricky business. As in any collectible field, it is wisest to buy what you love, thus shielding the monetary investment you have made by the adoration you have for the object, regardless of market conditions. Prices usually do come back and occasionally increase over time.

Nowhere is this truer than with Haitian art. Prices for old master painters continue to increase at a value higher than the average stock because once someone like Andre Pierre dies, there is a finite number of works available forever forward into time. It is absolutely essential that a collector deals with a reputable dealer capable of providing a provenace for a work of art. Speculators who buy what they think is an Andre Pierre painting, because the thrift store owner downtown told them so, are in for trouble as fakes of Pierre and other masters enter the market.

**********************

The recent death of artist Frantz Zephirin, Jr. is an example of a promising young light of the new generation not able to reach his full potential. He could have reached the heights of his well-known father Frantz Zephirin. The younger artist's fanciful imagery and respect for Haitian history could have carried him into museums, catalogs and books on Haitian art. But Zephirin, Jr., who made paintings of revolutionary heroes on horseback, swimming mermaids, and Vodou queens in mid-ceremony, succumbed to an unknown disease while either eighteen or nineteen years old. One person who believed in his talent was Haitian gallery dealer Axelle Liautaud, who oversaw and funded the thin and sickly artist's stay in a Port-au-Prince hospital. She championed his genius and sold the handfuls of paintings he produced in a few short years.

-- Candice Russell

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Too Many People Are Selling Bad Haitian Art.

2008-02-05T05:59:00.000-05:00

February 5, 2008

What the new year bodes for Haitian art is anyone's guess. But from the expert opinion of two people in Haiti, both of them in the art business, the outlook isn't good. To protect their identities, I won't reveal their names because their communication was personal.

Each person bemoaned to me the abundance of fakes in the marketplace. Even more sad is the knowing collaboration of U.S. dealers in this deception, which dilutes the value of the originals. Tiga, the renowned painter, died a little more than a year ago and is already being copied in Haiti and sold to unsuspecting buyers. Another problem is the absence of a strong tourist base going to Haiti with the purpose of buying art. A new generation of collectors needs to start travelling to the island to buoy up the market. But the persistence of political instability and kidnappings scare off even the most intrepid travellers, myself included.

Too many people are selling bad Haitian art, as seen commonly in neighboring Dominican Republic and as sold on Ebay, unfortunately. Haitians don't support their own artistic output is another complaint voiced by my insider. As a result of all these things, the prices for Haitian art has gone down. A Hector Hyppolite which used to sell for $40,000 now goes for $25,000. One respected dealer said he actually lost money for participating in the International Caribbean Art Fair held in New York City in November.

While painting is experiencing a low point in Haiti, sculptors and Vodou flag makers are on a wonderful high, creating works of surpassing creativity according to one Haitian art dealer. There are still buyers for Haitian art in Haiti, largely from the well-paid expatriate community looking for souvenirs to take back home after their service in Haiti.

Just as in the floundering real estate market in the U.S., there are bargains to be had in Haitian art. So in spite of all this negative reportage, the long-term outlook for Haitian art remains positive, if not radiant. Discoveries will be made of new and original artists doing things never seen before in Haitian art. Savvy collectors will start spending now in anticipation that their wise choices in art will increase in value eventually. The worth of the art is less monetary than intrinsic within its aesthetic parameters and the reputations of the artists. If an Andre Pierre painting is under-valued now, think what a work by the foremost artist painting the loa of the Vodou pantheon might be worth in 2018 or beyond?

The time to buy for sharp-eyed collectors on a budget is now. My advice is to buy in multiples and negotiate a lower price with a reputable dealer. Consider the source before making a purchase, so as to authenticate the originality of your artwork. Haitian art is indisputably the best art in the world and if the world's a little slow in recognizing this fact, you stand to be on the cutting edge of a future trend. Buy now and enjoy Haitian art.

--Candice Russell

Don't Miss Out on My Annual Haitian Art Sale!

2007-12-15T08:29:00.000-05:00

December 16, 2007

Today begins the last weekend of the 2007 Holiday Haitian Art Sale at my home in Plantation, Florida. Those unable to attend can request a free photo packet of items customized to your taste. Those coming will enjoy seeing items not seen in previous weekends because Mr. Lange Rosner in Haiti, my friend and buyer, just sent me a shipment of terrific artwork -- small paintings perfect for gift-giving, whimsical painted metal sculptures spelling out the words "joy" and "Noel," wonderful unpainted metal sculptures including a small nine-inch circle of a tree with little birds in it by David Joseph, and exquisite Vodou flags, including a miniature treasure made exclusively from beads of a veve (design drawn on floor of Vodou temple prior to a ceremony) by Jean Baptiste Jean Joseph. There are other well-priced (low) Vodou flags including a cheerful "La Sirene," a "Carrefour" veve, and a fabulous head of a bull on green satin. The bull is a symbol of fortitude and determination, perfect for anyone trying to surmount obstacles in their life.

Speaking of Jean Baptiste Jean Joseph, I met a new friend this week when Dominique Carvonis of Haiti and Pembroke Pines, Florida visited my home this week. She owns a dental practice in Port-au-Prince and goes back and forth to Haiti all the time. Carvonis brought over a tempting selection of Joseph Vodou flags, each more lovely than the last. After purchasing two for my personal collection, I took two small ones on consignment including a "Bossou" or bull, a very masculine-looking strong flag.

Besides being newly stocked for the show, the Children of Haiti Enhancement Foundation will benefit from weekend sales. Certain items each day will be put up for a silent auction, which is exciting. Good food, champagne, friends and fellowship besides surpassingly wonderful art -- what could be better? I hope you can join us.

--Candice Russell

Hurry! Only 2 Week-ends Left.

2007-12-06T21:26:00.000-05:00

December 6, 2007

The first two weekends of my annual in-home Haitian art sale have brought out loyal customers and friends who have collected the paintings of masters and unknowns with equal fervor. Thank you to all who have supported this wonderful aesthetic revolution over the years, including Dr. Donna Goldstein of Hollywood, Florida, a psychologist, global traveller, and specialist in cultural diversity issues. Also in attendance were documentary filmmaker Grace Barnes and Paula Harper, a University of Miami art professor and noted art critic. Each woman has superb taste in art and knows exactly what she wants to add to her personal collection.

George Bolge, director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Boca Raton, Florida, and his wife Marguerite purchased a cheerful painting of figures in kind of a Saint Soleil style by Lionel Elie, an artist I met several years ago outside the Oloffson Hotel in Port-au-Prince. I bought the painting directly from Elie, who says he sells his work through the Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York City.

Laurie Vaughn, an abstract expressionist painter from Plantation, Florida, and her boyfriend Derrick Smith, a Miami architect, spent several hours with other guests, drinking Haiti's version of eggnog -- the delicious alcoholic Christmas brew called "cremas" -- and discussing the art scene. It's now the week of Art Basel Miami Beach, the largest U.S. art fair, and Vaughn is going to participate in an adjunct space in the design district and, we hope, sell out all of her paintings.

Friends Margareth and Reynolds Rolles, who have a number of superior paintings by Raoul Gilles for sale during the show, also came over. Through their auspices, a number of Haitian artists who live in the U.S. visited as well including Guy Floury, Ernst Louis-Jacques, and H. Versaint, who is the son of famed stone sculptor Georges Laratte found in many Haitian art books. Versaint brought a small folder of photos of his own work, highly reminiscent of his father, in marble and stone. These strong figurative works referenced such favorite themes of his as maternity.

Speaking to Mr. Lange Rosner in Haiti, my cherished friend who buys artwork for me and ships it via Federal Express, I learned this week that my favorite gallery to buy from for the purposes of re-sale closed in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince. The wonderful Pierre-Pierre Gallery is gone! What a shock, considering it was the visitor to Haiti's mecca. Many are the times I can recall walking through the dusty piles of metal sculptures and wood figurines in the dusty upstairs space, accompanied by a very tall woman with a big smile who worked at the gallery. When I cringed away from a spider one time, she said spiders were good luck and laughed at my fright. Remarkable art of all kinds was found in the space, including Vodou flags and one of my favorite paintings by the late Saint Soleil master Dieuseul Paul, who forgot to sign it (friend Dr. Carlos Jara ran into the artist on the street months later, encouraged him to visit and got him to sign the canvas!).

Mr. Rosner is sending a package this week for arrival early next week, which is good news for visitors to the sale on December 15th and 16th, which is a benefit for the Children of Haiti Enhancement Foundation. I'll have many new things just purchased in Haiti, including gorgeous Vodou flags of ceremonial import and metal sculptures, both painted and unpainted.

This coming weekend, December 8th and 9th from 12 noon to 6 p.m. on both days, the focus is on sales and appraisals. Each day at 4 p.m. visitors are invited to bring artwork or a photo and we'll research in catalogs and my extensive library of Haitian art books what the value of the art is. This should be fun. It's certainly something different I've never done before, though I have privately appraised personal collections. Maybe I'll see you at the sale!

--Candice Russell

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Only 3 Weeks Left in Annual Sale!!

2007-12-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

November 30, 2007

Only 3 weeks remaining in Candice Russell's Annual Haitian Art Sale. Email Candice for information and directions: candice@haitianna.com . New arrivals from Haiti currently being displayed.

My Annual In-Home Art Sale

2007-11-23T11:46:00.000-05:00

November 23, 2007

This weekend begins my annual in-home sale of Haitian art, which extends for three additional weekends after that, ending on Sunday,December 16th. All days the show is on from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Anyone interested in Haitian art is invited, so please contact me for driving directions or to be mailed a postcard.

In the nineteenth year of sales like this in my west Broward County home in South Florida, I am trying to do things a bit differently this time. During the first weekend, prices on everything are discounted 15per cent. This is a direct appeal to bargain hunters and holiday gift shoppers with an eye for the unusual and unique. Original Haitian art appeals to collectors and casual buyers who might not know much about the subject. With prices ranging from $15 up to $10,000, the artworks include paintings, Vodou flags, wood sculptures, mixed media sculptures by the great Lionel Saint Eloi, metal sculptures to Tomas Petit (who does wonderful crosses like those found in the cemetery in Croix-des-Bouquets, and catalogs of museum exhibitions devoted to Haitian art, which cannot be found in bookstores or even the museums where the shows were held because they're out of print.

The second weekend of the show, December 1st and 2nd, I will lecture about Haitian art at 3 p.m. on both days, bringing out items from my personal collection, many of which haven't been exhibited before. I'll touch briefly upon Haitian history with an emphasis on the significance of Vodou as expressed visually by artists of surpassing genius.

The third weekend of the show, Saturday December 8th and Sunday December 9th, is the time to come to bring your Haitian art for an appraisal. If it's too big or cumbersome to load and carry in your car, bring a photo and we'll do on-the-spot research in catalogs and look up obscure names. Here's a chance for you to know what you have and what you treasure -- a masterpiece or a piece of minimal value?

The Children of Haiti Enhancement Foundation, a non-profit charity based in Miami under the leadership of Haitian-American Elsie Craig,is the focus of the fourth and final weekend of the sale on Saturday,December 15th and Sunday, December 16th. Special items not put out other weekends will be available for purchase at modest starting prices in a silent auction, with most or all of the proceeds going to this outstanding organization that supplies school children in Haiti with the tools they need in school to be successful, along with meals.Many of these children are in remote mountain villages, which Craig has visited. One place took her all day to reach on foot! Large photos of the children will be on display.

If you can't make this superior sale, please contact me for a free photo packet customized to your needs. Most of my artwork won't make it on the web site due to size limitations for shipping and other considerations. My friend, Mr. Lange Rosner in Haiti, is buying items for me as this is being written. Future shipments from Haiti will bring more wonderful artworks. What a way to celebrate the holiday season!

--Candice Russell

Unbelievable Bargains on Haitian Art

2007-11-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

November 20, 2007

Unbelievable bargains on Haitian art were part of the early November event in Georgia largely devoted to the personal collection of American filmmaker Jonathan Demme. He put up for bid a number of precious holdings at the Slotin Folk Art Auction in Buford, Georgia on November 10th, with the result that those in the bidding hall or bidding by telephone had an opportunity to pick up some very fine artworks by Haitian masters for less than their going value on multiple web sites.

Case in point: the magnificent color cover of the catalog is Pauleus Vital's exceptional painting "Judgement Day," measuring 26 inches by31 inches. It went for a laughably low $8,000 -- its low estimate.Wilson Bigaud's "Marriage at Cana" (#336 in the catalog), measuring 41inches by 32 inches, sold for an amazingly modest $1,400. Wonderful sculptures in metal by the inventor of the medium, Georges Liautaud,ranged from $600 to $2,000 -- again way off the mark at galleries and web sites.

If you were a collector, you won out. Gustavo Ponzoa of Miramar,Florida was our man on the scene. He was amazed at what he calls the"disproportionate" prices between items of the same size and quality by the same artist -- some going for under the value, some others going for much more than the value. All of the Haitian pieces, in his opinion, were "absolutely under-bid." For the scandalously good price of $300, Ponzoa walked away with a 24-inch by 24-inch painting called"Multiple Village Figures" (#586 in the catalog) for just $300. He also got the painting "Wolf and Sheep" (#748 in the catalog) for a mere $200. "It was like a surprise box -- you never knew what you were getting," says Ponzoa in his description of the prices pieces brought.

Even so, he liked the experience. "It was a lot of fun and went very quickly," says Ponzoa, who also won on his bids for a small folk art"Lion" painting by American artist Malcah Zeldis for a bargain $125.

But how can one explain a Gerard "Nativity" painting going for $250?This makes no sense. Selden Rodman, the late author and expert on Haitian art, must be turning over in his grave, since he so championed Gerard as one of the great naive painters. Which he still is! I don't know if Peters Stephane is any relation to Micius Stephane, but this artist's "Mother and Kids" painting, measuring ten inches by twelve inches, went for a criminal $25 -- that's right, $25! The estimate for this superb little work was between $800 to $1,200.

Also inexplicable were the prices brought by Vodou items, including flags by unnamed artists ranging from "Rice" for $250 to $2,000 for"Two Blue Snakes." Doll shrines by the lauded Pierrot Barra, some more aesthetically pleasing than others, ranged from $275 to $600 -- again under-priced, especially if you asked Donald Cosentino, the University of California at Los Angeles professor who wrote a book about works by Barra and his wife Marie Cassise.

What to make of this auction and these prices? It's only a true bellwether of the market if a large number of Haitian art collectors and museum curators were aware of the auction and participating in it.Ponzoa reports there were only a few in the hall with him during the auction.

--Candice Russell

Major Haitian Art Event

2007-11-09T06:25:00.000-05:00

November 8, 2007

A major Haitian art event is taking place on Saturday, November 10that Historic Buford Hall in Buford, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. The Slotin Folk Art Auction for that particular day is heavily laden with items in American folk art and Haitian masterpieces from the personal collection of filmmaker and Haitian human rights defender Jonathan Demme. On the cover of the full-color catalog is a stellar painting featured in the show co-curated by myself and Axelle Liautaud in 2006at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, Florida -- "Judgement Day"(1983) by Pauleus Vital. This incredible work features zombies bursting out of multi-colored coffins in a cemetery and making their way up twin staircases with very different ends, as one group appears to march toward heaven and the others to hell It is estimated to bring in between $8,000 to $12,000.

But as with all items at Slotin Folk Art Auctions, there is no reserve. So if a bidder gets lucky, he or she may walk away with a highly valued artwork for less than the estimate. Also featured in the auction are two lovely Wilson Bigaud paintings including "Lady in the Rose Garden" (1981), estimated at between $1,000 and $2,000 and"Marriage at Cana" (c. 1981), with an estimate of $2,000 to $4,000.Both prices seem low.

A very unusual "Papa Zaka" painting by the underrated Bourmond Byron, a painting called "Twa Zonbi" by Abel Michel inspired by the original painting by Hector Hyppolite of zombies being led from a cemetery, a charming Alexandre Gregoire "In the Garden" and "Nativity" by Gerard make this auction one to watch, if only to gauge the strength of the market in Haitian art. Of course, it all depends on how many Haitian art lovers know about the auction and decide to participate as bidders, either in person or by telephone.

Demme put up some rarities on the auction block, too, including"Monument" (c. 1963) by Florence Martinez and the exceptionally beautiful "Dambala Wedo" in the old-school palette by Andre Pierre.Under-priced works in iron and metal by the pioneer who started this genre of sculptures, Georges Liautaud, and his successor Serge Jolimeau are also up for bid. From crosses both embellished and plain,figurative pieces like mermaids and a creature dubbed "Metamorphosis,"and paintings by Etienne Chavannes, one of Demme's favorite artists,this auction is worth checking out, even after the fact to see what prices actually materialized once the hammer came down.

Other notable paintings by Jerome Polycarpe, Gerard Paul, Roi David Annissey, Ulrick Jean, G. Leveque, and Fernand Pierre are included inthe offerings. Lesser known artists are included in Demme's collectionas well. He has a remarkable eye that applies to Vodou flags, with tasty representations of "Mermaid," "Kok Lavalas," and "Tambou Verite." Mixed media sculptures by Pierrot Barra using doll heads are part of this eclectic mix. The auction should be fun and the results worth careful contemplation.

-- Candice Russell

International Caribbean Art Fair - New York City

2007-10-30T13:47:00.000-04:00

October 29, 2007

For people in the New York City area or visiting there this week, it might be worthwhile to visit the International Caribbean Art Fair held from November 1st to 4th at the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street in New York City. Forty artists and/or gallery owners from all over the Caribbean will be represented at the art fair, including people from Aruba, Jamaica and Cuba. But of course we're most interested in the art from Haiti, with at least two galleries coming directly from the island's capital of Port-au-Prince -- Galerie Marassa and Galerie Bourbon-Lally, owned by Christiane and Reynald Lally, who have superb taste as well as a button on the most cutting-edge, contemporary art.

With a lecture and workshop component at the art fair, the event promises to educate its visitors, whether they're collectors, browsers, academics or museum curators. As of Monday afternoon, announcement of details about lectures and workshops hadn't been announced. Guided art tours are offered daily for $25, a price that includes show admission.

This event is sponsored by the Haitian Art Education and Appraisal Society, a non-profit, professional organization that exists to establish appraisal standards for Haitian artists and to advance the arts through education, archiving, advocacy and scholarship. To learn more about the art fair, telephone the toll free number 1-877-319-6478 or 301/637-4934 or 301/651-6919. If you attend the event and want to let me know how it was, please email me at: candice@haitianna.com.

--Candice Russell

A New Newsletter

2007-10-19T12:35:00.000-04:00

October 19, 2007

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing the birth of a new publication of interest to Haitian art collectors, museum curators and scholars: a quarterly newsletter titled "Haitian Art Views." The publishers are Reynolds Rolles, a veteran collector, photographer, and graphic designer, and Emile Viard, an author and Haitian art dealer -- both hail from Haiti. I am the editor.

Printed on heavy stock paper in full color for the photos, the first issue includes a "Tribute to Tiga" (1935 - 2006), the innovative artist and teacher who spearheaded the start of the Saint Soleil movement of Haitian avant-garde art. It was his careful tutelage that led Prospere Pierre Louis, Levoy Exil, Denis Smith, Dieuseul Paul and Louisiane Saint Fleurant to work in the same meticulous style of small dabs or dots of paint and philosophical reverence for the cosmos, women, and peace. Each artist developed his or her own particular way of painting and typical symbolism. Tiga's own technique of working called "soleil brulee" or "burnt sun" involved a mixture of inks, acrylic and acids lending his canvases a raw, primal feeling.

An interview with Carole Cleaver, the widow of author Selden Rodman, is also found in the "Collector's Corner" of "Haitian Art Views." She talks about the first piece of Haitian art she bought, when and why she began collecting, and her adventures along the way. She is the co-author with her late husband of the book "Spirits of the Night: The Vaudun Gods of Haiti" in addition to numerous newspaper and magazine articles about Haiti. A key portion of the interview is devoted to what she plans to do with her massive collection. Others can take their cues from her experience.

This season's "Artist Interview" is with Arijac, a contemporary painter known for his portraits and landscapes. Now a resident of North Miami, Florida, the artist reflects on his output, sources of inspiration, method of working, and hoped-for legacy.

A section for classified ads will allow collectors and others to communicate their wish to buy, sell or trade Haitian art and related items. Rolles, Viard and myself are hopeful that "Haitian Art Views" will prompt letter-writing on the part of readers who agree with or object to the opinions stated in the pages of our newsletter. We hope it will serve as a place for intelligent dialogue and debate among well-informed people. We are also open to suggestion in terms of what our readers want to see in future issues. It's an exciting time for us and we hope other people agree, so please pass on the information about "Haitian Art Views" to interested parties.

The first issue is out and available for free to anyone who asks, so please email me at both LuLuchat@aol.com and copy the email to LuLugatos@gmail.com. Yearly subscriptions, beginning with the January, 2008 issue, are $20.

Our first-ever full-color wall calendar is soon coming off the presses. It features people and places in Haiti from a variety of photographers including Rolles and myself. The price is $20. Please email me for more information.

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New Generation of Haitian Artists

2007-03-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

March 25, 2007

The Saint Soleil movement, dubbed by the late author and scholar Selden Rodman "the avant-garde of Haitian popular art," is proud to unveil the works of the younger generation. Levoy Exil and Denis Smith, the only two living originators of this art movement dealing with the same iconography, have good reason to nurture the talents of young men and women. By encouraging new artists working in the Saint Soleil style, the popularity of Saint Soleil is sustained.

In a recent visit in early March to South Florida, Levoy Exil brought treasures from his own hands, as well as paintings by artists heretofore unseen in the United States. Marie Danielle Exil is the daughter of Levoy Exil. A woman in her thirties, she paints in a remarkably similar style to her father, where not a scintilla of available canvas is untouched by a shape, a dot or a line. She is also a strong colorist with a palette entirely different from her famous father. Her lines are more sensual and organic. I was lucky to purchase four of her paintings -- one for myself and three others of smaller size to put up for sale (watch my website in the coming weeks).

Marie Danielle Exil uses felicitous combinations of colors -- varying shades of pink, purple, turquoise and yellow. Her figures are feminine with upturned mouths and thick curling eyelashes. Collectively, these figures seem amused at the cosmos as they float in a sea of dreamy half-circles and cradle creatures of unknown origin. With undeniable charm and a hand all her own, this new Exil has already caught fire in Italy and France, where her father exhibited her paintings to great acclaim. I'm very excited to have these artworks and look forward to buying more.

Onel, a young man, is the other new artist introduced by Levoy Exil on his recent trip. Not only paint but collage is incorporated into Onel's canvases -- bits of cloth, magazine photos of 1950s pin-up girls, and even Coca-Cola bottle caps! Inventive in the extreme, Onel's spirited artwork is completely original in Haitian art. He's also selling more expensive pieces than Marie Danielle Exil. My friends Margareth and Reynolds Rolles purchased the best painting by Onel featuring a large cross and multiple adornments. It's a masterpiece worthy of a museum exhibition.

With the deterioration of the art gallery system in Haiti, due in part to the deaths of major dealers like Dr. Carlos Jara and Issa el-Saieh, artists are left more and more on their own to get their artwork to a larger world marketplace than Port-au-Prince. Collectors in the U.S., Canada, Europe and more places are eager to see what remarkable output is being created in Haiti right now. I hope to bring you more information and new original art in the coming months. Stay tuned.

--Candice Russell

A New Year with New Hope

2007-01-01T20:58:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2007

A New Year with New Hope

On this gloriously sunny and warm sub-tropical South Florida day, one cannot help but be hopeful for Haiti and the enduring talent of its fine artists. Though they face incredible hardships in a country of great political instability and scant infrastructure, the artists continue to create against the odds. They are compelled to exercise their creativity in new and exciting ways.

The newest "medium" within Haitian art is the recycling of rubber tires into wonderful mortal creatures. They are magnificent silhouette figures with facial features -- eyes, nose and mouth -- created from the negative space of cutting out the rubber. In many ways, these odd creatures convey a ghostly or otherworldly appearance perhaps related to Haitian Vodou, the dominant religion. What is obvious is how these rubber entities resemble the cutouts from another recycled material, flattened oil drums made of metal, by the late Georges Liautaud. He often employed spirits of Vodou including Baron Samedi with his top hat and bare feet. Discovered by the artist and art dealer Axelle Liautaud, the artists making use of this new form are channeling the cartoon character Caspar as much as the roots of their own religious culture. I own three, all bought from Axelle, and plan to group them on a wall. Slightly amoebic as well with their delightfully misshapen bodies, these figures connote the unseen world of Vodou spirits who work their way in the lives of all Haitians.

Haitian art never stops. It just transforms and keeps going. Savvy collectors pay attention to these revelations of talent. Let's hope that fate is kind to Haiti this year -- less violence, more order, more peace -- and that there is a wider global appreciation of the art produced by the island's legion of remarkable artists.

-- Candice Russell

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Haitian Art Loses a Master

2006-12-18T12:20:00.000-05:00

“Haitian Art Loses a Master” -- December 17, 2006

A titan of Haitian art has passed away. Haitian-born artist and educator Jean Claude Garoute, known to the art world as “Tiga,” died on Thursday of liver cancer in a Fort Lauderdale hospice. Before his death at age 71, four days after his birthday, Tiga hosted a steady stream of visitors to his bedside, including artists like Patrick Gerald Wah who traveled from New York to see him. A televised tribute to Tiga aired on New York television last weekend and was seen by the ailing Tiga, whose mind remained sharp until the end even though his body was ravaged by disease.

Another visitor was Levoy Exil, a painter in the Saint Soleil movement, known as the avant-garde of Haitian popular art. This seminal movement was started by Tiga in 1972 with five core artists including Exil, Prospere Pierre Louis, Louisiane Saint Fleurant, Dieuseul Paul, and Denis Smith in Soisson la Montagne. Only Exil and Smith are still alive. Saint Soleil paintings are characterized by explosive color, semi-abstract figures, doves as symbols of peace, and women as the source of creation. Connected to the dominant Haitian religion of Vodou, Saint Soleil also connects to a larger sense of sacredness, according to the writing of Tiga, who based it on four key words -- dream, possession, creation and madness..

In visiting from his Thomasaint, Haiti home, Exil expressed gratefulness to Tiga for giving him the freedom and education that changed his whole life and allowed him to raise fourteen children.
“My relationship with Tiga is very spiritual,” Exil said after visiting him in the hospice. “He gave me three brushes and told me to do anything I felt like doing. President (Rene) Preval has great regard for Tiga and inquired after his health. He sees him as an icon or master of Haitian art.”

Exil explains that when he spoke to Tiga, “There is such electricity in the communication. Because of his illness, his body was practically gone but his mind keeps him so strong. If not for that, he would have been gone already. Tiga says that the moon receives the soul of a person and the sun burns the body to cleanse it so it can come back to life.”

Making peace with the fact of his impending death, Tiga had no fear about it, according to Exil. He merely saw death as a transformation of his energy and a continuation of his soul in another form. Those who knew and loved him are more prone to celebrate his life rather than mourn his passing.

Carnival in Haiti next February will be dedicated to Tiga and the Saint Soleil movement. Exil and Smith are working on the floats for the parades in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, as well as their costumes. Tiga’s daughter Pascal Garoute will lead the parade. This Carnival plans to be one of the most spectacular celebrations in recent years.

Saint Soleil came along at the right time, according to Selden Rodman in the book “Where Art is Joy: The First Forty Years of Haitian Art.” The art market had become commercialized and painters felt more comfortable copying other people’s masterpieces than creating original works of their own. In 1996 Tiga wrote that Saint Soleil’s “primary purpose was the rehabilitation of art and the liberation of the human spirit through media corresponding to all senses: clay, drums, colors, voice, stone, ink, etc.”

French writer Andre Malraux became impressed with the Saint Soleil painters during a 1976 visit to Haiti and wrote in the book “L’Intemporel” about the movement as “the most striking and only controllable experiment in the magic world of painting in our century.”

Haitian art collector Reynolds Rolles of Plantation, who is also a fine art photographer, said, “Tiga could see your potential and give you the tools to develop them. He was honest, friendly and trustworthy. His best quality was his personality. Not only was he a great artist. His Saint Soleil movement put Haitian art on the map internationally and made art lovers see differently things they never saw before.”

Tiga’s art was featured in a benefit for the A.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation, a Broward-based non-profit organization promoting Creole art and culture, several years ago in the courtyard of the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. Eric Boucicaut, the foundation’s president and an art collector, said, “The contribution of Tiga is immense not only at the level of visual art but at the level of culture. He had a theory of artistic rotation which entailed the use of many different media almost simultaneously. It worked with adults as well as young children and the mentally challenged who were his students.

“Tiga was a singer, philosopher, poet, researcher and fantastic sculptor as well as the creator of Saint Soleil, one of the most important movements in Haitian art. This is a major loss for Haiti. ”

Susan Karten, an American clothing designer and resident of Boca Raton, studied art with Tiga years ago when she lived in Haiti. She and her late husband Morton Karten had a business there (she still does) and lived in Haiti for thirty years. “He was very intense in a quiet way,” she says. “Tiga’s intensity made me create. He only let us use three colors -- red, yellow and blue -- because he said from those you can make anything.”

The only local museum show in the tri-county South Florida area devoted exclusively to the Saint Soleil artists was held at the Center of Contemporary Art (now the Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Miami, Florida in the early 1990s. Exil and Saint Fleurant came from Haiti for the show’s opening, then jointly created a mural commemorating this special event in an all-day event. Artist Philippe Dodard also participated in the painting. It was at this mural-painting that I purchased works on paper in black-and-white by both Saint Fleurant and Prospere Pierre Louis, along with a notebook of oversized pen-and-ink drawings by Exil.

Funeral arrangements for Tiga are pending in Haiti. He told Exil that he wanted to be cremated, to return to the fire.

-- Candice Russell

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Last Weekend of Phenomenal Haitian Art Sale

2006-12-14T14:51:00.000-05:00

"Last Weekend of Phenomenal Haitian Art Sale"

This is the last weekend of my annual 2006 Haitian Art Sale at my home in Plantation, which is located in western Broward County. Both Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 6 p.m. is the time to come and enjoy fantastic craft items ridiculously low-priced, including a painted metal palm tree leaf plate (perfect for croissants or mangos), a smiling sun face that would look great on a kitchen wall, and a snazzy lizard to perk up a child's room.

Master painters abound in this show including Prospere Pierre Louis, Andre Pierre, Pierre Joseph Valcin, Stivenson Magloire, Etienne Chavannes, Gelin Buteau, Levoy Exil, Louisiane Saint Fleurant, Amerlin Delinois, Gerard Valcin, Georges Liautaud, and many more. Gorgeous Vodou flags including works by geniuses and pioneers of the medium like Clotaire Bazile, creating medium-size treasures priced at less than $350, and the always-creative Georges Valris, who made a Marassa of arms-linked females that is to die for, are also part of this year's mix. It's quite a show!

Guests this year have included author-scholar Paula Harper, who is a University of Miami art professor, gallery owner Berenice Steinbaum of the Berenice Steinbaum Gallery in Miami's Design District, artists Leigh Walker and Nancy Edelstein, photographer Reynolds Rolles and his wife Margareth, and George Bolge, executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art and his wife Marguerite, among many others. Some of the wonderful Haitian art items that were purchased this year include a museum-quality Vodou flag of a mermaid by Mireille Delice, the cousin of Myrlande Constant, miniature painted metal horses (all gone by second weekend), hand-painted tiles with Vodou symbolism, a mixed-media sculpture of an angel by Lionel Saint Eloi, and a fantastic painting by Phelix Brochette, whose style is like Colombian artist Fernando Botero in that he paints people of extra poundage.

Who knows who will come and what will be sold this weekend? If you're in the South Florida region, please stop by and have a glass of champagne as you enjoy the sale in a comfortable home setting.

--Candice Russell

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Haitian Art Thriving in South Florida

2006-12-05T11:28:00.000-05:00

December 4, 2006

"Haitian Art Thriving in South Florida"

By Candice Russell

Last weekend was weekend number two of a four-weekend Haitian art extravaganza, a show and sale at my home in western Broward County. And what a spectacular weekend it was.

The 2006 Holiday sale of wonderful paintings includes work by the Saint Soleil masters like Prospere Pierre Louis and Louisiane Saint Fleurant, Etienne Chavannes, Wagler Vital, landscape genius Bresil, Pierre-Joseph Valcin, the late great Stivenson Magloire, and many other artists of renown. Vodou flag luminaries including Clotaire Bazile and Georges Valris are also represented with glittering examples of their exquisite workmanship and stunning designs. This year brought new items from Haiti, courtesy of my dear friend Lange Rosner, who finds art for me and sends it to me. Superb examples in unpainted metal include delicate little trees with birds perched in the branches -- something I had never seen before. From small gift purchases like sequined and beaded eyeglass cases emblazoned with cheery hearts or fish to large paintings dramatically perfect for a living room wall, this year's treasures are truly wonderful as local collectors discover.

Quite unexpectedly, one of my favorite artists came to town last weekend and visited my home during the Haitian art sale. Courtesy of a neighbor and friend, Haitian-born photographer Reynolds Rolles, the Saint Soleil painter Levoy Exil was my guest. The occasion for his being in South Florida, rather than in his home in Thomasaint, Haiti near Kenscoff or in New York where he also lives, was a sad one. Tiga, also known as Jean-Claude Garoute, is the founder of the Saint Soleil movement several decades ago and he is ill in a Fort Lauderdale hospice. Levoy Exil came to see Tiga and bask in his wisdom and the intensity that always characterizes their communication.

Exil brought a handful of very strong paintings that he had completed within the last several years. I purchased one for myself, a vivid canvas of a single figure -- a winged angel -- surrounded by the angularity of straight lines. These marvelous stripes are an ideal means of surrounding the angel. And the colors are heavenly -- orange, yellow, pink, always outlined in Exil's traditional black lines.

The artist also brought good news. For the first time that any of my Haitian friends can remember, the Carnival in Haiti next February will be themed. In honor of Tiga and the Saint Soleil movement of avant-garde contemporary painters, the Carnival is dedicated to both the man and the movement that elevated the status of Haitian art in the global art world. Exil is returning to Haiti on Tuesday to work on floats for the Carnival parade with several relatives. The only remaining Saint Soleil painter from the original core group -- Denis Smith -- is travelling back to Haiti from his current home in New York in order to also participate in the Carnival celebration. It's enough to make reluctant tourists return to the beleaguered country in order to witness this extraordinary event. Unfortunately, three other originals in the Saint Soleil group have passed away, including Prospere Pierre Louis, Louisiane Saint Fleurant (who was the mother of Stivenson Magloire) and, most recently, Dieuseul Paul who died last summer.

Haitian art lovers are encouraged to contact me at Luluchat@aol.com for more information about my current show or to receive a free photo packet from me via the U.S. post office, tailored to your specifications. Catching on with more and more people, Haitian art is the wave of the future. Who knows what might happen next weekend at the show? Stay tuned.

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