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 Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. It was founded in 1944 by American

watercolorist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

DeWitt Peters and several prominent Haitians from the intellectual and cultural circles such as Maurice Borno, Albert Mangonès, Geo Remponeau, Jean Chenet and Gerald Bloncourt. In 2010, the center's building was destroyed by the Haitian earthquake, and by 2014 they were able to reopen in temporary premises, in which they continue to operate to this day.

History

The institution was at the center of what became known as the Haitian Art Movement, often also known as

naive art Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of Deontology, moral idealism. A ''na ...

, educating and exhibiting founding artists including Albert Mangones, Gerald Bloncourt, Maurice Borno, Rigaud Benoit, Hector Hyppolite, Daniel Lafontant, Marie-Josée Nadal, Rose-Marie Desruisseau, Philome Obin, and Castera Bazile.

Jason Seley Jason L. Seley (May 20, 1919 – June 23, 1983) was an American sculptor, educator, and academic administrator. He was an early teacher at the Centre d'Art in Haiti in the 1940s, and served as the dean of the Cornell University College of Archite ...

was an early teacher.Smith, Griffith "Haiti Art Showcased". ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe countie ...

''. May 21, 1972.
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Retrieved 21 February 2025 – via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

. French

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

writer and poet

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

is known to have visited, having written in the guestbook, after meeting Hector Hyppolite, "Haitian painting will drink the blood of the phoenix. And, with the epaulets of

Dessalines Dessalines (; ) usually referred to as ''Marchand-Dessalines'' (), is a commune in the Artibonite department of Haiti. It is named after Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler and emperor of independen ...

, it will ventilate the world". Le Centre d'Art was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake and many artworks from its collection were damaged. The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

as well as several other local and international organisations has since collaborated with recovery and conservation efforts. Since their reopening in 2014, the museum has been housed in temporary premises as issues of funding have meant they were unable to restore their original premises. In December 2019, Le Centre d'Art purchased a large

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger root, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly ...

mansion in the area of Pacot,

. The purchase was made possible with donors such as

Fondation de France The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent private organisation, recognised as being in the public interest, and created at the instigation of Charles de Gaulle and André Malraux in an effort to stimulate and foster the g ...

. The center planned to open at the new location in 2021, but this has been delayed.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Haitian art Port-au-Prince Organizations established in 1944