Ellis Wilson (1899 to 1977)
In 1952, African-American artist Ellis Wilson used his prize money for winning second place at the national Terry Art Exhibition in Miami to travel to Haiti. There he found the Haitian community to be a source of inspiration and produced a colorful series of paintings. Wilson’s “Impressions of Haiti” exhibition at the New York Contemporary Arts Gallery opened in 1954 to critical acclaim. The exhibition was praised for its fresh subject matter, heightened sense of color and use of simplified forms.
Information courtesy of Neal Auction Company, October 2004.
During his visits to Haiti in the 1950s, the African-American artist Ellis Wilson was enthralled by the daily life, marketplaces, beaches and villages of the peasants. Influenced by the culture, artists and ambiance of the island, Wilson began to simplify, flatten and elongate his figures and use brilliant vibrant colors. In her review of Wilson’s 1954 exhibition “Impressions of Haiti” at the Contemporary Art Gallery in New York City, Senta Bier wrote: Through his simplifying style these scene of Haiti are transformed somehow into scenes of the life and being of simple people everywhere and at any time. Wilson chose a bustling marketplace filled with vendors balancing baskets filled with chickens and fruit on their heads, musicians, dancers and friends enjoying a conversation in the wonderful and lively painting “Colonnade, Promenade.”
Reference: Albert Sperath, ed., The Art of Ellis Wilson, The University Press of Kentucky, 2000, p. 19.
Information courtesy of Neal Auction Company, December, 2007