Gesner Abelard (born 22 February 1922) was a Haitian painter and sculptor. Born in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, Abelard began life as a mechanic, then studied painting and sculpture at the Industrial School of Port-au-Prince under the painter Humberman Charles. He became a member of the Haitian

Centre d'Art Le Centre d’Art, also known as Centre d’Art d'Haïti, is an art center, art school and art gallery located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was founded in 1944 by American watercolorist DeWitt Peters and several prominent Haitians from the intell ...

in 1948. In 1949, he received a bronze medal at the International Exposition celebrating the bicentennial of Port-au-Prince. Many of his paintings depict birds, trees and scenes of Haitian life, and he is considered a

naïve art Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is ...

ist. Abelard is believed to be deceased.

References

* * * 1922 births Possibly living people Haitian artists Haitian painters Haitian male painters Haitian sculptors Naïve painters {{Caribbean-sculptor-stub He painted The Garden of Eden —sold in 1970– along with other numerous Naive works brought to the U.S. by Yvette Mimieux and Elaine Hollingsworth the same year. When Papa Duvalier died their involvement ended.