Note:
With the high cost of shipping many of our customers choose to ship by USPS. For small and light shipments this is usually less expensive, but please be aware that their estimates are notoriously wrong. The service is not always as economical as it may appear, particularly on larger or more valuable shipments. USPS estimates only include insurance up to $100 for its domestic shipments, and varying amounts for overseas shipments. If you ask for full insurance we will recalculate the shipping cost and send you an invoice for any difference in cost.

The Virgil Young Collection

We are pleased to be able to offer for sale a selection of vintage vodou flags, bottles and other artifacts from the famed Virgil Young Collection. The late Virgil Young was a visionary collector, who collected the art and artifacts of Haitian Vodou at a time when few others were interested. He collected in Haiti, for the most part directly from the Vodou temples, from about 1980 to 1993. At this time, before the international art market had discovered the Vodou flag, and before such celebrated artists as Antoine Oleyant became widely known, it was still possible to obtain antique and vintage flags which were displayed or in use in the temples. Before his death Virgil Young sold a large part of his collection to the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA, and many were included in the ground-breaking exhibition (and accompanying book), The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. The heirs to another part of this collection have asked us to offer these pieces for sale.

The following is excerpted from a tribute to Virgil Young as part of "The Clock Series" of photographic portraits on the website of the late Glenn Shadix:
Virgil Young was born in Sledge Mississippi and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. After high school Virgil got a job at Helen's of Memphis as a window dresser. This lasted long enough for him to earn the money he needed to move to New York City. In the late 1960's Virgil worked with artist Robert Indiana as an archivist as well as performing in a Charles Ludlam play with his band Virgil Young and The Younguns. I met Mr. Young when he moved to Hollywood in the late '70's. After moving back to Manhattan for a few years, Virgil returned to Hollywood in 1988 and moved into Ten Bungalows on Poinsettia Place above Melrose where I was living at the time. Virgil was instrumental in presenting Tim Burton's photographic work to the Los Angeles art community and eventually worked for Tim as an archivist.

He was an acknowledged authority on Haitian religious art and made numerous trips to Haiti where his relationships with various priests in Port au Prince and the surrounding countryside led him to build one of the best collections of Haitian religious art in America.... Virgil's art collection is now spread amongst his friends and The Haitian Collection was acquired by U.C.L.A. and is a part of "The Sacred Art Of Haitian Voodoo".  This show was recently on display at Manhattan's Museum of Natural History after it's premiere at The Fowler Museum in L.A.  In his last month in Los Angeles Virgil assisted Tim Burton on a large-format polaroid shoot in Death Valley.  By 1995 Virgil was in declining health and decided to move back to his beloved "Chili Verde" (his home in the Hudson River Valley) where he died in June of that year. The shirt he is wearing in the photograph above was purchased for two dollars from a vendor on the streets of Port au Prince, Haiti in January of 1990.

Works in Collection

Erzulie Freda Antique Vodou Banner
SKU: VYF-11

Sequins and beads on fabric with fringe
(35" x 35"), mid-20th century.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

 

$ 2,000

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: VYF-12

Sequins and beads on fabric (36" x 33")
mid-20th century

$ 1,800

Product Status: 
Sold
Diabolo Bossou Antique Vodou Banner
SKU: VYF-9

Sequins and beads on fabric (38" x 34"), c.1980

Published in the article, "I Am Going to See Where My Oungan Is": The Artistry of a Haitian Vodou Flagmaker, by Anna Wexler, published in the collection Sacred Possessions (Rutgers University Press, 1997).

$ 1,800

Product Status: 
Sold
Damballa - Antique Vodou Banner
SKU: VYF-2

(initialled "LL")
Sequins and beads on fabric (31"x 24"), mid-20th century

$ 1,600

Product Status: 
Sold
Houtor - Antique Vodou Banner
SKU: VYF-3

Sylva Joseph (?)
Sequins and beads on fabric
(30" x 30"), c. 1980.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 1,600

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: VYF-4

Unknown artist, Haiti
Sequins and beads on fabric (30"x 26"), mid-20th century

$ 1,600

Product Status: 
Sold
Baron Antique Vodou Banner
SKU: VYF-5

Sequins and beads on fabric
(35" x 30"), mid-20th century

$1,600

Product Status: 
Sold
Bossou Antique Vodou Banner
SKU: VYF-6

Sequins and beads on fabric
(32" x 39"), c. 1980.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 1,600

Product Status: 
ON HOLD
SKU: VYF-7

Sequins and beads on fabric
(29"x30"), mid-20th century. 
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$1500

Product Status: 
Sold
Bossou Trois Cornes Vodou Bottle
SKU: VYB-08

Unknown artist, Haiti
Sequins and beads on fabric on glass bottle
(+/- 3 1/2" x 12" plus horns), mid-20th century.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 275

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: VYB13

Sequins and beads on fabric on glass bottle
(+/- 3 1/2" x 12")
mid-20th century.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 240

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: VYB20

Unknown artist, Haiti
Sequins and beads on fabric on glass bottle
(+/- 3 1/2" x 12"), mid-20th century.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 240

SKU: VYB4

Unknown artist, Haiti
Sequins and beads on fabric on glass bottle
(+/- 3 1/2" x 12 1/2"), mid-20th century.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 225

Product Status: 
Sold
Ghede Vodou Bottle
SKU: VYB10

Unknown artist, Haiti
Sequins and beads on fabric on glass bottle
(+/- 3 1/2" x 12"), mid-20th century.
Condition Note:  Several sequins and beads missing at bottom.
Note:  Artworks from this collection generally must be shipped from the collection rather than directly from our gallery.  Please allow a few more days for shipment to your location.

$ 225

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: VYB11

Unknown artist, Haiti
Sequins and beads on fabric on glass bottle
(+/- 3 1/2" x 12"), mid-20th century

$ 225

Product Status: 
Sold