Browse by Period | Haitian Art

Complementing the extraordinary collection of works by American and European folk and self-taught artists is the Milwaukee Art Museum 's collection of Haitian art. In 1991, the Museum received a magnificent gift of some 90 paintings and sculptures from Milwaukee collectors Richard and Erna Flagg. The Flaggs began collecting Haitian art in 1973 and went on to amass one of the world's premier 20th-century Haitian collections.

In 1943, American artist DeWitt Peters traveled to Haiti as a conscientious objector to World War II. The following year, he opened the Centre d'Art, an art school, exhibition space and commercial gallery, in Port au Prince. It attracted both trained and untrained artists, but it was the work of the latter group that captured the interest of the art world. Highlights of MAM's collection include The Adoration of Love from 1946-48 by Hector Hyppolite, perhaps the most highly regarded artist associated with Le Centre d'Art, and Castera Bazile's Petwo Ceremony Commemorating Bwa Kayiman, from 1950, in which the ritual reenactment of the ceremony that launched the fight for Haitian independence is depicted.

Hyppolite, Hector
La Dauration l’amour (The Adoration of Love)

Bazile, Castera
Petwo Ceremony Commemorating Bwa Kayiman