André Normil (September 26, 1934–May 2, 2014) was a Haitian painter.

Career

Normil was a self-taught artist. He decorated

tap-tap ''Tap taps'' (, ) are gaily painted buses or pick-up trucks with metal coversHaiti: Tap-t ...

Centre d'Art Le Centre d'Art, also known as Centre d'Art d'Haïti, is an art center, art school and art gallery located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was founded in 1944 by American Watercolor painting, watercolorist DeWitt Peters and several prominent Haitians ...

in 1951. In 1956, Haitian painter Jacques-Enguerrand Gourgue introduced Normil to a gallery owner named

Issa El-Saieh Issa Joseph El-Saieh (22 February 1919 – 2 February 2005), also known as Maestro, was a Haitian – of Palestinians, Palestinian descent – saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, arranger, businessman, gallerist and art collector. T ...

. Thereafter, Normil worked exclusively for the Galerie Issa, where he had his own studio until the death of the gallery's founder in 2005.

Works

His works provide a detailed and nuanced portrayal of everyday urban life in Haiti. Subjects of his work include schoolchildren, street vendors, cockfights, and rara musicians. The themes in his paintings are drawn from a range of inspirations, including history, country weddings, and scenes from the Bible. Normil's compositions are elaborate and feature numerous characters, activities, and bright colors, often with an element of humor. He was initially classified as a humorous painter before later being regarded as a "master of Haitian painting".

Legacy

His works have been presented in various exhibitions, galleries and museums, mainly in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. He is included in the collections of the Haitian Art Museum of Saint Pierre College in Port-au-Prince, and the

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...

. Many of his paintings have also been used as a tool for tourism and cultural promotion by the Haitian Ministry of Tourism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Normil, Andre Haitian artists Naïve painters Haitian artist stubs Haitian male painters 20th-century Haitian male artists 20th-century Haitian painters Haitian painter stubs 1934 births 2014 deaths