Philome Obin (circa 1950) “Issa and the Artist”; 20 x 16 inches, oil paint on board.
There was no Ayiti Toma I, and this exhibition organized by Tomm El-Saieh, at the Luhring Augustine Gallery, is meant to mark by its naming, that egregious absence. Tomm El-Saieh is the grandson of musician, orchestra leader and gallery owner Issa El-Saieh (1919-2005). He carries on, in place of his grandfather Issa, who in the 1950’s opened the most famous salon in the country. The legend Issa, once also, managed the storied Hotel Oloffson, and appears in Graham Greene’s infamous book set about the hotel, “The Comedians”, as the character Hamit. In the mid-1960’s, he was imprisoned by the notorious Papa Doc regime.
Issa El-Saieh is represented here in a painting (ca. 1950; “Issa and The Artist”), by the artist Philome Obin (1892-1986). Power need not come in the gargantuan, and most Haitian work of this era is quite modest in scale, in contrast the pomposity the period in America. In Haiti, less might truly hold more. The magnetic properties of small, are understood, and revel in the intimacy of an amulet. You are pulled close. Issa discovered dozens of now celebrated artists, and this homage by the master Obin, marks a heartfelt appreciation for patronship, once fashionable. The conspicuous pink background, might serve in recognition perhaps, “Mistress” Ezili Freda, the goddess of love and luxury.
Read full article at whitehotmagazine.com
