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Wilson Bigaud

About the Artist

Wilson Bigaud
Wilson Bigaud

 Celebrated Haitian artist Wilson Bigaud, one of the great masters of Haitian painting, died at the age of 85 in his home in Vialet, a community in Petit-Goâve, 68km south-west of Port-au-Prince, where he had spent the last 55 years of his life, as Radio Kiskeya reports. Bigaud, who had had eye surgery recently, had ceased painting last summer. Bigaud was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His date of birth remains unclear, as it is variously reported as January 1920, 1930, and 1931. His family stated that he was 85 at the time of his death.
At age 18, he met Dewitt Peters and joined the Centre d’Art. From the first his drawings were densely detailed. Working towards a mastery of color as well as an illusion of volume modeled in light and dark, Bigaud demonstrated a mature command of his art in the great "Terrestrial Paradise" (1952), painted when he was just 21. "Paradise" won second prize in an international art exhibit in Washington, D.C. and was subsequently purchased for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York along with works by Gourgue, Philomé Obin and Georges Liautaud.
In 1951 he was one of the handful of artists chosen to execute the landmark murals in the Episcopal Cathedral of Sainte Trinité, which were destroyed in the January 12 earthquake. His masterpiece in Ste Trinité Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, the Marriage at Cana, anthologizes many of the themes he had treated previously and introduces numerous details of Vodou ritual into the Christian subject. He has been called a popular realist, as he delighted in the festivals of carnival and Rara, representing them in full action and colorful detail. His "Self-portrait in the Carnival Costume of the Fancy Indian" demonstrates his love for lush detail and the golden colors that suffuse many of his paintings. His genre scenes are material rather than dreamlike, solid and respectful of the limitations of naturalism. The ritual and mystery of Vodou are presented as he observed them in reality.
In 1957 Bigaud sank into a deep depression and did not paint again until 1962. Some say that he never regained his early brilliance but there are few artists in Haiti or anywhere else who were as able to communicate the subtleties of their culture with brush on canvas. His paintings are an integral part of the best collections of Haitian art around the world. Bigaud suffered from severe depression for most of his life, which caused him to cease painting almost entirely for many years. Dewitt Peters, founder of the Centre d’Art, described Bigaud as “obsessed by the fear of losing his gift,” and the artist’s friends believed that he had made a pact with a houngan – a voodoo priest – to preserve his talent. Bigaud remained without question one of the major figures of Haitian painting. With Bigaud’s death, Radio Kiskeya expressed, Haitian painting has lost one of its greatest artists, joining other internationally-known artists who have died recently, such as André Pierre, Gesner Armand, Néhémy Jean, Louisiane St-Fleurant and Alix Roy (who died in the earthquake).

Radio Kiskeya obituary.  For more (in French) go to http://www.radiokiskeya.com/spip.php?article6652

Region:
Village Scene
SKU: WB-2301

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1928, Port-au-Prince, d. 2010, Petit-Goave, Haiti)
Oil on canvas (24" x 30"), 1973.   Purchased in Port-au-Prince by previous owner.  In original Haitian wood frame.

$3500

Wedding Party
SKU: WB-2302

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1928, Port-au-Prince, d. 2010, Petit-Goave, Haiti)
Oil on canvas (16" x 34"), c.1990.   Framed.
Purchased in Port-au-Prince. 
This painting is being sold by Judy Hoffman for the benefit of the Art Creation Foundation for Children, which she founded in Jacmel, Haiti.

$2800

Washing in the River
SKU: WB-0501

Wilson Bigaud (Haiti) Oil on canvas (10 x 8), c. 1990.  Framed 

$875

Chicken Seller
SKU: WB-1601

Wilson Bigaud (b. c.1925, Port-au-Prince, d. 2010, Petit-Goave, Haiti)
Oil on canvas (20" x 24"), c. 1980's, Purchased in Port-au-Prince.  In original carved wood frame.

Price on request

Carnival
SKU: WB-1602

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1928, Port-au-Prince, d. 2010, Petit-Goave, Haiti)
Oil on canvas (30" x 40"), c. 1980's, Purchased in Port-au-Prince.  In original carved wood frame.

Price on Request

Restaurant
SKU: WB-1603

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1928, Port-au-Prince, d. 2010, Petit-Goave, Haiti)
Oil on canvas (30" x 40"), c. 1980's, Purchased in Port-au-Prince.  In original carved wood frame.

PRICE UPON REQUEST

SKU: WB-c

Wilson Bigaud (Haiti)
Oil on canvas (9x 12), c. 1990
SOLD 2/09

$ 875

Product Status: 
Sold
Marassa (Twins)
SKU: WB-0301

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1928, Port-au-Prince, d. 2010, Petit-Goave, Haiti)
Oil on canvas (10" x 8"), c. 1990, Purchased in Port-au-Prince.

$750

Product Status: 
Sold

Haitian Art

by Ute Stebich, Brooklyn Museum : exclusively distributed by H. N. Abrams (1978)

Product Status: 
Sold
$70

Where Art is Joy - Haitian Art: The First Forty Years

Selden Rodman
Ruggles de Latour, New York, 1988

Product Status: 
Sold
$ 60
SKU: WB-slwf

Wilson Bigaud (Haiti) Oil onboard (16 x 24), 1966 Purchased in Port-au-Prince in 1978 (framed)

PRICE UPON REQUEST

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: WB-ring

Wilson Bigaud (Haiti)
Oil on canvas (28 x 24), c. 1960's

Purchased in Port-au-Prince, 1970 SOLD 3/07

PRICE UPON REQUEST

Product Status: 
Sold
SKU: WB-fish

Wilson Bigaud (Haiti)
Oil on canvas board (10 x 8), c. 1990

PRICE UPON REQUEST

Product Status: 
Sold