About the Artist
Although he died in March 2000, Ismael remains one of the most highly regarded contemporary Haitian painters. Born in 1940 in Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite, he began his career as a painter in 1956 following a visit to the Centre d'Art, and in 1967 he was one of several artists commissioned to paint the community exhibition hall at Deschapelles. He was closely associated with Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, where in 1985 he became director of the Ceramics Center. At that time he began developing an intricate style of painting that closely resembles Byzantine iconography, with its geometric precision and close attention to minute detail. In these works can be seen the influence of the Haitian "Christian School" of painting, which often mixes strong elements of both Christianity and Vodou.
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