Haitian Art-a Brief History

 

After the earthquake in January, Haiti was in the news and on the front of people's minds. There was a great human suffering, and many around the world came together to help the people of Haiti. He reminded us of that, and we are often not in the news every day, that all people are basically good. But as the dust settles, we see more damage and damage to other things that already exist to remind us of the goodness of human nature, and one of those things is the art of Haiti.

The official history of modern art Haiti quite short. Began in 1943, when DeWitt Peters moved to Haiti from America to teach English. In addition to being an English teacher, he had a passion for painting, especially watercolors, and I was surprised that there was no place for art exhibitions and galleries art that can be found. People see the poverty and lack of opportunities, he has a vision to provide a place for talented local Haitians can develop these natural talents, and at the same time provide an alternative means of earning a respectable life and manual labor .

It took a year for him to start making his dream come to fruition. Convinced that the Haitian government to make a donation to the local construction and opened its case if the Art Center in Port-au-Prince, which has served both an art and an art gallery school. It did not take much research to discover local talent, which are well known in the art community Haiti today. In particular, Peters focused on local primitive art, which saw huge potential. Talented artists, artists or potential, and has increased everywhere: voodoo priests, taxi drivers, factory workers, and even the boy schoolyard art.

After only three years in 1947, it's time to take art in the world, and this was done in a big way (literally) through the mural on the side of buildings. These murals have attracted the attention of world wide, and slowly began to demand growth in Haitian art. And many painters became Haiti earlier international notoriety because of this attention murals.

This is what distinguishes the art of Haiti? When I think of art in Haiti, the first thing that comes to mind vibrant colors. Many of them are considered primitive art, and themes of social activities, and the market, and life in the country is the subject of many artists. Like any art form, there are different schools of painting. Some focus on daily life in the city, and others are more of the countryside and coastal cities, is characterized by other forms of abstract rights. He also strongly influenced many artists of the religion and lifestyle, mainly Catholic, the religion brought by the EU; Voodoo, the religion of the indigenous population.

In addition to paintings, there is also the sculpture. And seen some of this art paper mache bowls and numbers. In the spirit of Peters is the basis of artistic creation for children, and both educates and informs children of Haiti technical skills, which is what can be done to help their family, either now or after it grows. Their artwork is bright and cheerful and, through them, we see a continuation of the tradition of the art of Haiti.
And you can see some examples of the wonderful and bright art by children of Haiti and buy assets in Fairhaven in the gallery, where the total sales price of an art Haiti goes to non-profit organization, and Art Foundation for Children Creation.