“Life and Spirituality in Haitian Art. Selection from the Betty and Isaac Rudman Collection” at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami, Florida

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami presents a historical exhibition of mid-twentieth-century Haitian art, influenced by its history and culture, which mixes African, American, Indigenous, and European elements. The masters featured in this exhibition range from self-taught artists to academically trained painters. The merging of techniques, methods, and cultures is seen through their work, ushering forth a uniquely and quintessentially Haitian style. The paintings explore the Haitian identity through deep, rich, vibrant colored scenes depicting historical figures, tropical flowers and fruits, rural landscapes, and daily activities infused with spirituality and Afro-Caribbean religious symbolism, particularly from a voodoo tradition.
This exhibition marks the first time these paintings belonging to a private collection are shown together. It features works by Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin, Wilson Bigaud, Jacques-Enguérrand Gourgue, and Gérard Valcin, renowned masters from the first and second generation of artists associated with Port-au-Prince’s Centre d’Art. The exhibition also includes some of their contemporaries and pupils, including Ernst Louizor, Célestin Faustin, Adam Leontus, Diodonné Cédor, and Laurent Casimir.
Curated by Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig, Ph.D., the exhibition can be visited until March 14, 2021.
For more information, visit: https://mocanomi.org/2020/11/life-and-spirituality-in-haitian-art/