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| Haitian Artists |
Aladin, Agathe
Aladin, Theard
Alphonse, Fritzner
Auguste, Toussaint
Bottex, S.E.
Casimir, Laurent
Domond, Ezene
Domond, Wilmino
Dupoux, Raoul
Etienne, Gregoire
Francois, Roger
Guillaume, Jean-Jacques
Ismael, Saincilus
Jacques, Harry (dit Arijac)
Jean, Jean-Baptiste
Jean, Marie Carmel
Jean, Ulrick
Jean-Jacques, Carlo
Joseph, Reynald
Leopol, Lindor
Louissaint, Jacques
Louizor, Ernst
Maurice, A.M.
Obin, Fritzner
Obin, Othon
Pierre, André
Pierre, Eddy
Robuste, Jean Claude
St. Fleur, Michelle
Valcin, Pierre Joseph
Valery, Julien
Zephirin, Frantz
Collection Notes
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André Pierre
André Pierre was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti around 1915. At an early
age he moved to Croix-des-Missions, on the outskirts of the capital, where he made his living
as a farmer. A practitioner of Voudou since childhood, Pierre met
the American filmmaker Maya Deren in the late 1940's. Deren had come to Haiti to make a film on dance,
and had become an initiate in the houmfour where Pierre was La Place, second in command.
The houmfour was decorated with gourds on which Pierre had painted images of vodou spirits. Deren suggested that he should paint on canvas and offer
his paintings to the Centre d'Art, which he did.
Shortly afterwards Pierre began a twenty year relationship with the dealer Issa el Saieh,
and went early each morning to the capital to paint in the atelier that Issa provided.
Eventually he became so renowned, not only for his art but for his personality,
that he stopped going to Issa's and painted in the compound where he lived and where
he had built his own houmfour.
André Pierre was the dominant
artist of the second generation, and is considered
the spiritual heir to the legendary Hector Hyppolite.
Collectors and journalists from all over the world came to visit him in the modest
hut where he painted lovingly detailed portraits of the gods of the vodou pantheon
by the light of an oil lamp. His mission in life was to
present Vodou as respectable, on a par with all the other major religions. His pronouncements on Vodou, and on life in general, were wise and sophisticated and were often punctuated
with his trademark subterranean chuckle.
As the political situation in Haiti worsened in the mid 1990's and the road to Croix-des-Missions
became less safe to travel, Pierre became somewhat isolated. In the last few years of
his life he was diagnosed with diabetes which affected his eyesight and his ability
to paint. By 2004 he was almost totally blind and had stopped painting altogether.
He passed away on October 4, 2005.
[Biographic notes from Galerie Macondo at http://www.artshaitian.com.]
Selected André Pierre Links:
Haitian Art Society
Galerie Macondo
Galerie Nader
Indigo Arts Gallery
Douglas Yaney Gallery
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