untitled

Rigaud S. Benoît

1911–1986

Antonio Joseph

1921–2016, active 1944–2016

untitled, circa 1980

Where object was made: Haiti

Material/technique: screen print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 610 x 481 mm
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 32 x 24 in

Credit line: Mary Lou Vansant Hughes Collection

Accession number: 2011.0287

Not on display

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The Ties that Bind: Haiti, the United States, and the Art of Ulrick Jean-Pierre in Comparative Perspective

Just as Catholicism pervades Haitian religious practice in complex ways, Catholic symbols saturate 20th-century Haitian art. These works represent Haitian takes on Christian myths, such as Mesidor’s depiction of Noah releasing a dove on his animal-filled ark. Joseph’s illustration of a bountiful tree laden with a cornucopia of ripe fruits evokes the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a biblical reference strengthened by its title (Paradise) and a depiction of a thorn-crowned Jesus. The untitled print borrows from botanical themes and ideas that associate fertility with femininity, conflating images of a flowering plant with the stylized face of a woman that likely references the lwa (spirit) Erzulie La Sirène (Erzulie the mermaid).

The Ties that Bind: Haiti, the United States, and the Art of Ulrick Jean-Pierre in Comparative Perspective