Haitian Naïve Art Movement Signed Painting, by Laurent Casimir

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This vibrant artwork is by the celebrated Haitian artist Laurent Casimir (1928–1990). He was a prominent figure in the Haitian … Read more This vibrant artwork is by the celebrated Haitian artist Laurent Casimir (1928–1990). He was a prominent figure in the Haitian Naïve Art movement and is highly regarded for his distinctive cubist-inflected market and crowd scenes.

SUBJECT: The painting features a tight composition of human figures stylized with geometric, interlocking shapes. As Casimir’s career evolved into the 1970s and 1980s, he increasingly experimented with highly stylized, close-up, and interlocked figures depicting bustling marketplace sellers, local tradespeople, or gatherers grouped tightly together. The sweeping, circular curves of the limbs and the dramatic geometric flow seen here represent his mature, "rondelesque" style.

While his classic period is widely famous for blazing hot hues of pure red, orange, and yellow, his later output increasingly relied on high-contrast earth tones. This work’s heavy use of deep blacks, rich browns, terracottas, and stark off-white clothing offset by graphic hatched patterns on the pineapples is strongly characteristic of his late-period aesthetic.

THE ARTIST: Born into a poor rural peasant family in Anse-à-Veau, Casimir moved to the capital city of Port-au-Prince in the late 1940s to find work. His formal artistic education followed a distinct two-step path. In 1947, he was introduced to the legendary Le Centre d'Art d'Haïti by his close friend, the prominent painter Dieudonné Cédor. The Center was the epicenter of the Haitian art renaissance where Casimir began painting and was exposed to first-generation Haitian masters.

In 1950, a group of modern artists and intellectuals—including his friend Cédor—broke away from the Centre d'Art to form a new, more politically and socially conscious school called the Foyer des Arts Plastiques (Foyer of Fine Arts). Casimir followed his contemporaries and studied there formally for six years until 1956. It was during this rigorous period of study that he moved away from strict realism and developed his rhythmic, "faux-naïf" modern style, ultimately going on to pioneer the archetypal Haitian market painting scene.

Signature/Maker’s Mark: Unframed dimensions: 23.25 inches high x 19.25 inches wide. See less