Valcin, Gerard

VALCIN, GERARD
Gerard Valcin – Born in 1925 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Most of Valcin’s work consisted of voodoo scenes or depictions of country life. Scenes which are pervaded by the rhythm of drums are usually his best. No other Haitian artist has brought out the voice of the drum, so essential to Haitian life, as consistently and convincingly as has Valcin. The circles of worshipers, the movements of the field workers and market women, even the arrangement of piles of baskets, are dictated by that rhythm. The rhythm is accented by stylized folds that underline the motions of the bodies. In order to achieve his rhythmic organization, Valcin relied heavily on line. Precise drawings are filled out with colors, either bright or subtle, depending on the mood of the work and the colors’ symbolic significance.

Valcin has participated in the most important exhibitions of naïve painting organized by Oto Bihalji-Merlin, in museums of England, Germany, Zagreb and Paris, and those organized by Georges Nader in Caracas, Santo-Domingo and New Jersey.

Gerard Valcin died in 1988.