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[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Artist Sacha Thébaud, 70

By Noreen Marcus
Staff Writer
Posted June 7 2004


Sacha Thébaud, a Caribbean artist whose sophisticated style attracted an
international following, died of cancer on May 26 at his home in the
Dominican Republic. He was 70.

Known as Tebó, he was a painter, sculptor and architect who looked to
ancient Egypt for his technique, employing a hot wax-based medium to render
his personal vision of the Caribbean.

"He's very, very modern and has been in the forefront of modern art in
Haiti, with his own style, and his paintings had their own school by
themselves," said Eric Boucicaut, president of the ACTION Foundation, a
Broward County group that promotes Haitian culture. Mr. Thébaud's art has
been widely exhibited in South Florida, as well as in the Caribbean islands,
Spain, New York and Canada.

"The arts community understands who he is," said Daryl Toor, his son-in-law.
"He was not considered a Haitian artist; he was always considered an artist
from Haiti."

Born in Port-au-Prince, Mr. Thébaud was raised and educated there and in
Montreal, Paris and Miami, according to a biography prepared by Toor. He had
his first art exhibit in 1958, when he was 24. After earning a degree in
architectural engineering from the University of Haiti, he went to Paris,
where he worked with Marcel Breuer and met Le Corbusier, master architects
who influenced him. Along the way he picked up six languages.

Fleeing the political tumult in Haiti, Mr. Thébaud moved with his family to
Miami in 1963 to attend the University of Miami's architectural program.
While there he obtained dual citizenship, according to Toor, and developed
many ties to the area.

Shortly after arriving in Miami he took part in "Arte de Americas y España,"
a collaboration that toured Europe and included artists Jasper Johns, Larry
Rivers and Robert Rauschenberg. For the next 40 years he traveled his own
artistic path and built a following of collectors in Miami, Haiti, the
Dominican Republic and St. Croix, where he also lived for a time.

"I was following him when he was changing from figurative art and moved to
the abstract," said Boucicaut, "but his art never became totally abstract;
he stayed where the abstract met the real. You could always find something
familiar when you're looking at his art." Boats, horses, bikes, kites and
the female form are recognizable in his work.

Survivors include his wife, Maria de Los Angeles Gracia Fernandez of the
Dominican Republic; four children from a previous marriage, Fabiola
Thébaud-Kinder of Laguna Beach, Calif.; Natacha Thébaud-Verwaay of
Port-au-Prince; Francisco Thébaud and Edvard Thébaud of Boston; and eight
grandchildren. He is also survived by a brother, Joël, of Haiti, and three
sisters, all of Montreal, Ethel Thébaud Forest, Gilda Thébaud Monsour and
Marlène Thébaud Charland.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Church of the Little Flower, 2711
Indian Mound Trail, Coral Gables. In lieu of flowers, the family will accept
checks made out to Pan American Development Foundation, to meet the urgent
needs of victims of the recent flooding on the island of Hispañola.

Noreen Marcus can be reached at nmarcus@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4519.

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