Jonathan Demme, famous for creating award winning films, wants to share the spotlight with another of his loves, collecting Haitian art.
Katie Barr and Jonathan Demme at the Haitian Art Collection.
Mr. Demme's involvement with Haitian art began in the mid-eighties after purchasing his first painting in a small New York gallery.
Today he has one of the most extensive collections in the world.
His great empathy for the Haitian people and his fascination with their life and folklore is evident in his choice of paintings.
Some of us had a chance to view a part of his collection last summer when the Equitable Gallery in New York played host to the exhibit "Island on Fire: Passionate Visions of Haiti" from the collection of Jonathan Demme.
The opening night was a jam-packed event.
Haitian artists Prefete Duffaut, Toussaint Auguste, Ernst Prophete and Fernaund Pierre were on hand as were authors Edwidge Danticat and Selden Rodman.
"The Haitian canvas is one of the most faithful recorders of both radiant humor and the idyllic melancholy of Haiti's many faces.
The painters' oeuvre remains among the most consistent notations of our dreams, ideal, cultyre and history.
Just a cursory glimpse at some of the paintings in this collection gives you a flavor of both the universal and the particularly Haitian themes addressed by the artists.
In my interviews and casual conversations with some of Haiti's wonderful and talentaed painters, I have come to realize that many of them wish to accomplish what some of the best work does.
They want to portray our heritage and religion.
They want to recreate the faces and events of history, both the well known and the unknown.
They want to use the beauty of the land and current events to allow them to tell their own truths."
Edwidge Danticat from "The Other Side of the Canvas" Island on Fire: Passionate Visions of Haiti from the collection of Jonathan Demme
Kaliko Press c.1997
Mr. Demme has graciously permitted us to show you a small portion of his collection.
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"Island on Fire"
$60.00
Two hundred beautiful color plates along with introductions that are wonderfully written and packed with enough information to whet the appetite of even the non-enthusiast.
Included are brief biographies of the artists and a history of each work if known.
"HAITI: Three Visions"
$40.00
This is the catalog from an exhibit at Ramapo University in New Jersey in November of 1994.
Three Visions contains color plates and interviews with two of the three artists that were featured in the show.
Etienne Chavannes, Edger Jean-Baptists and Ernst Prophete.
Masters at recording Haitian life on canvas they display a sweet intensity that makes collecting Haitian art so addictive.
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