Haitian Surrealism Jacmel Harbor Early Work Oil on Masonsite

In 1962, when Margritte was creating some of his most iconic Surrealist works, there was a lesser-known painter in Haiti who was also making some fantastically imaginative paintings that embody an original look and vision. He is Préfète Duffaut, and in the present work, which he titled " Haiti Imagination", fullfills it's titular description. Here, he undoes reality and pieces it back together again. As if the subject, Jacmel Harbor, were a large color photograph, Duffaut cuts out the center and repositions it, floating it in the sky. Without regard to traditional Western perspectives, he connects the floating section to the mountainous mainland via roads and footbridges. A tranquil scene of sailboats occupies the cutout area below. Locals depicted as small toy figures are seen going about their daily tasks, dotting the landscape as if they were out of a Laurence Stephen Lowry painting. Préfète Duffaut has invented his own style of Haitian surrealism, modernism, and primitivism mixed all in one and it clearly transcends ordinary reality. All of his art is instantly recognizable as his own. He is not copying other artists. He is a self-taught artist and is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, among other esteemed collections. Oil on masonite, signed, dated, and titled lower right. It's the earlier work of the 1950's and 1960's by Duffaut that is important and rarer. His later work, which continues to push the limits of imagination, is more available in the market.
Frame size 32.5 x 20.75 inches