Artist’s Statement

Philippe-Auguste was born in St. Marc, Haiti in 1908 and died in the 1990s.. According to Ute Stebich's biography in her landmark exhibit catalog Haitian Art, he began to paint full time around the age of fifty-one after a career as a self-educated lawyer . He joined the Centre d'Art in 1960. He was one of the first "jungle painters" in Haiti, but expanded on the theme to include vodou loas and fantastic creatures that existed only is his imagination. Madame Stebich descibes him as a creative and disciplined man, a poet at heart. He wrote poems and articles for Haitian newspapers. His painting " Flamingoes" was used on the poster for the Brooklyn Museum Show in 1978. The artist employs vivid colors and makes striking use of flat surface textures. His paintings are dominated by the female figure, often with winged female nudes. The painting here, with a single fantastic tree, is unusual in this regard.
He had seven children and lived with his wife and family in the Delmas section of Port-au--Prince until his death in the early 1980's