Appreciating Haitian Artwork for Sale

This is a guest post provided to you from The Neat Things in Life

Whether you have Haitian roots yourself, a love for the country, or an appreciation of their remarkable artwork, placing Haitian art in your home or commercial property can add a wonderful element to your atmosphere. Haitian art is unique and rich with ethnic flavor; finding Haitian artwork for sale is an affordable way to imbue your living space with the unique blend of African, Indigenous American, and European aesthetic and religious influences.

Key Elements of Haitian Painting

Haitian market paintings tend to be marked by a vibrant presence of yellow, red, and orange tones and other brilliant shades. The perspective and depth in Haitian art tends to be more childlike, playful, and simple. Subject matter ranges from delicious foods to rich landscapes, while other schools of Haitian art focus on market scenes and social activities. Still others emphasize jungle animals, dances, rituals, and religious influences; Vodou symbolism also plays a role in some of the more abstract forms of Haitian painting. Fables are another prized subject matter for paintings, with transformations of people into animals and heavily symbolic representations. The Nader Art Gallery and the Musée Nader are some of Porta-au-Prince’s finest private galleries; they feature a large sampling of Haitian’s diverse artwork.

Key Elements of Haitian Sculpture

Whereas Haitian paintings can be brilliantly colored and focus on depictions of daily life and meaningful narratives, Haitian sculpture tends to be understated and intense. Much Haitian sculpture is created from natural materials like terracotta and wood, as well as recycled materials or metals like iron, aluminum, and so on. Scrap metal has played a key role in much of Haitian sculpture, particularly through pieces like iron oil drums, which have spawned an innovative movement of beautifully hammered and chiseled sculpture. Of course, Haitian sculpture also has a young, contemporary movement that tends to be more postmodernist in the juxtaposition of materials and methods. The ancient African and Atlantic roots emerge as an influential presence in even the contemporary pieces, however; the Vodou emphasis on transfiguration and metamorphosis is a particularly deeply-embedded theme. Next time you see Haitian artwork for sale, you will appreciate the history and culture behind the art and consider your purchases more appreciatively.