"Le Danger D'un Boeuf Avec un Paysan en Menant à la
Rivière"
(The Danger of a Runaway Bull)
dated 1970, Masonite, 17 1/2 x 22 5/8 inches
Edger Jean-Baptiste was born in 1917 in Bainet.
Originally a cobbler and a tailor, Jean-Baptiste and his wife
raised five daughters and two sons, one of whom is now deceased.
Before joining the Centre d'Art in 1954 with the help of Micius
Stephane, he occasionally painted village scenes and characters
on the surface of sun-bleached rocks chosen from the extraordinary
Bay of Bainet shoreline, the rocks themselves worn to an incredible
smoothness by the endless tidal movement of the surf. Known by
his devotees as the "Master of Twilight" for his frequent exploration
of the effects of the shifting sun on the color of sky, clouds,
and landscape, Jean-Baptiste was forced to stop painting in the
late 1980s due to the onset of glaucoma and his subsequent loss
of vision. He still lives with his wife in their small house on
the hillside overlooking the town and bay which Jean-Baptiste
faithfully recorded for over thirty years. His work is included
in the permanent collection of the Musée d'Art Haitien
du Collège Saint Pierre in Port-au-Prince and Yale University
in New Haven, Connecticut.
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