Haitian Culture Curriculum Guide

Regardless of the source of inspiration, the best Haitian art shares a special understanding of the
world. It expresses a fundamental belief in the unity of visible and invisible reality. The
interdependence of elements in Haitian native art is not limited to the physical but extends to the
cultural and unseen world as well. Haitian artists’ expression of a multilayered view of their
surroundings has received acclaim in the world artistic community.
The first generation of Haitian artists painted primarily to express themselves in an honest, naive,
primitive, or folk style. The five painters who emerged in 1946 were Hector Hyppolite Philome
Obin, Castera Bazile, Rigaud Benoit, and Wilson Bigaud. In 1948, Selden Rodman arranged for
them to paint murals in the Episcopal Cathedral, Sainte Trinite. Photographs of the apse murals in
Time and Life magazines led to donations for the painting of the transepts. The murals won
worldwide acclaim.
A second generation of "folk" artists emerged in the 1950s and won recognition in the 1960s, a
period of isolation for Haiti under the political rule of "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Their art was more
introverted and concerned with traditional beliefs. The dominant painter of this period was Andre
Pierre who painted representations of figures from the unseen world with a new richness of texture,
sensuous color, and compositional skill new to Haitian art. Other visionary artists such as Gerard
Valcin, Robert St. Brice, and Prefete Duffaut emerged during the 1960s.
At the end of the 1960s, the austere regime of "Papa Doc" gave way to the rule of his relaxed, funloving
son, Jean Claude ("Baby Doc"). As a result, Haitian art became more joyful. Artists such as
Montas Antoine depicted city and country life.
What has given the greatest hope that Haitian art will escape the commercialism toward which street
vendors and proliferating galleries threaten to turn it, is the constant surfacing of remarkable new
talent, painters and sculptors with fresh statements, among them Gerard Paul and Darbouze.
The arts of Haiti shine as a cultural gift to the entire world. These artists celebrate Haitian life along
with the beauty of Haiti’s people, landscape, and traditions.
Oral Tradition: In West Africa, lessons in the history, beliefs, and values of a people are taught
through the age-old tradition of storytelling. Long before there was written language, the elders of
an ethnic group passed on knowledge, wisdom, and legends to the next generation through stories,
proverbs, and songs. The people gathered around a storyteller, called a griot, to hear familiar tales.
Frequently, the stories were about animals that had human characteristics and behaviors. The
stories, still in use today, were often cautionary tales told with wit; the stories included moral
lessons well understood by the listener. When Africans were enslaved and transported to the New
World, they brought their oral traditions with them.
Anansi, the spider, is among the favorite story characters of the Caribbean. Anansi is a brash and
greedy trickster with the ability to change form. Today he is still a popular figure in stories told
throughout the Caribbean Islands. In various guises he remains Anansi in Jamaica. In Haiti he is
two characters: 1) Uncle Bouki who represents Anansi's boastful, foolish, and greedy nature and
2) Ti Malice, who is the clever trickster. The duality of this character in Haiti is not surprising given
the close ties to African cultural and spiritual beliefs still held by the Haitian people. In the
southeastern United States, Anansi again changes form and becomes a duality, Brer Rabbit and
Brer Fox of the Tales of Uncle Remus. Most cultures have tricksters, but few have developed such
a rich folklore surrounding them.
"Krik?"
"Krak!"
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