a1495: Re: a1308: Re: a1296: more from the "Arts Ghetto" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LeGrace Benson <legrace@twcny.rr.com>

Going beyond Dewitt Peters; (from LeGrace Benson)
    Randall is right on the mark.  Peters was energeticand usually
enthusiastic. On records are his doubts about the artistic  value of Hectors
Hypppolitie's work, and he seems only to have been convinced by (a.) the
words of prestigious Andre Breton, (b) the positive response of the director
of the British American Gallery who was, (I believe) the first to sell the
works sent form Centre d'Art.

In determining "what is needed" now, there may be any number of viable
possibilities, but they should be Haitian in genesis, whether in Haiti
itself or in Diaspora.

It has been my observation, however, that many Haitians see Haitian art and
craft through the lens provided by US writers. For a Haitian point of view
see the recent book by Gerald Alexis, PEINTRES HAITIENS. For an historical
point of view by a Haitian see Michel-Philippe Lerebours, HAITI et ses
PEINTRES.   For the Haitian point of view on sculpture, see various issues
of CONJONCTION where sculptors and sculpture are presented and discussed.

As an aside, some of the completary money systems may be promising for
moving Haitian art into better circulation both inside and outside the
country.

     legrace@twcny.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Corbett" <corbetre@webster.edu>
To: "Haiti mailing list" <haiti@lists.webster.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 8:43 AM
Subject: a1308: Re: a1296: more from the "Arts Ghetto" (fwd)


>
> From: Mysteries@aol.com
>
> No you do not want a Dewitt Peters.  You definitely beyond the vaguest
shadow
> of a doubt do not want a Dewitt Peters.  You want someone who understands
> diasporic art from anywhere in the world and especially the
African-Atlantic
> disaspora.  you do not want someone who tampers with the spiritual ideas
of a
> people but rather someone who sees the place of Haitian vernacular artists
in
> terms of their homeground importance and has a wider vision of its
> contextualization in art and history throughout the world.
>
> Dewitt Peters, while well-meaning, was an artifact.  Someone who was
trapped
> by certain ideas of his time. The field has moved way beyond that now.
There
> are many people off all nationalities and races who qualify more than
peters.
>  But it will never work until there is a realization of just how the work
> fits into world art history.  and that history is only being written as we
> speak.
>
> To break out of a ghetto one needs to fully understand what one needs to
take
> with him and what one needs to leave behind.  Haitian verancular art and
its
> contemporary art are not a phenomenon unto themselves.  They need to be
> accepted on their own terms by the so-called mainstream that holds all art
> not made by the academy at colonialistic bay.
>
> Dewitt Peters was not equipped (through no fault of his own) to deal with
> these issues.
>
> Randall
>
>