Prosper Pierre Louis “Deity”

Prospere Pierre Louis
From the Ralph & Terrel Kaplan Collection
Size: 10″ X 08″
Oil on Canvas
“Deity”

Description

Original Haitian art painting for collecting and home or office decoration

Artist: Prosper (Prospere) Pierre Louis
From the Ralph & Terrel Kaplan Collection
Subject: Deity
Oil on canvas
08″ X 10″ (sight)
Frame size 16″X14″

Prosper Pierre-Louis (1947–1997), was a Haitian artist, painter; and one of the main contributors to the local school of the Saint Soleil art movement. His paintings depicting mystical Vodou Loas and spirits are especially noteworthy.

Pierre-Louis was born on October 12, 1947, in Bainet, near Jacmel, Haiti. He did not have any formal schooling, but taught himself to play the drums and the violin. As a child he assisted his father, a houngan, in preparing Haitian Vodou ceremonies. At the age of 16 he moved to Port-au-Prince. There he took a number of odd jobs. Later while working as a waiter at the home of Maud Robard he joined the “Saint Soleil” peasant commune (organized by the latter) which united a variety of poor artists including singers, dancers, craftsmen, and painters into the movement. Prosper followed Maude to the community at Soisson-la-Montagne on the mountain above LaBoule and eventually became the most prominent painter in the group.

The Saint Soleil group disbanded after only a few years but five of the artists, Prosper, Levoy Exil, Denis Smith, Dieuseul Paul, and Louisiane Saint Fleurant reorganized into the group “Cinq Soleils”. After years of labor Prosper’s technique greatly evolved and he become a prominent and respected member of the local art community. His flourishing career came to an abrupt end when he died prematurely of an asthma attack in November 1997. (From Wikipedia)

À la suite de son voyage en 1975 en Haïti, qui sera aussi son dernier, André Malraux décide de consacrer un chapitre entier de son livre L’intemporel – la Métamorphose des Dieux édité chez Gallimard en 1976 au mouvement Saint Soleil. Évidemment l’ouvrage contribue de manière foudroyante à la reconnaissance mondiale de ces artistes perdus au milieu d’Haïti. Malraux illustre une pleine page de son livre avec une Å“uvre de Levoy Exil et ose même écrire page 330 “Picasso voulait que ses tableaux du Palais des Papes atteignissent la liberté qu’atteint celui de Levoy Exil parce que le peintre haïtien ignore la peinture des autres. Mais ces tableaux d’Avignon sont manifestement des Å“uvres professionnelles du XXe siècle postérieures au cubisme, et dont la frénésie d’échapper à l’art appartient à celui-ci, alors que le peintre haïtien ne tente pas d’échapper à un englobant qu’il ignore”. Malraux est impressionné par la force et la qualité des Å“uvres de Saint-Soleil qu’il trouve très proche de l’art brut

Additional information

Weight 10 lbs
Dimensions 17 × 12 × 5 in

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