Theard Aladin (October 12, 1925 – August 17, 1993) was a Haitian self-taught artist, noted for his artwork depicting Haitian life and use of bright colors in paintings.

Biography

Aladin was from

Jacmel Jacmel (; ) is a commune in southern Haiti founded by the Spanish in 1504 and repopulated by the French in 1698. It is the capital of the department of Sud-Est, 24 miles (39 km) southwest of Port-au-Prince across the Tiburon Peninsula, and ...

, a city on the southern coast of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. After working as a

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

and farmer for many years, Aladin suffered a serious back injury in 1983, which left him unable to continue this line of work. For months he supported his family by doing odd jobs around Jacmel, but in fall of 1984, he had a dream in which he was told that he was an artist. The very next day, he began his first painting. Shortly thereafter, Aladin moved to a house in

Carrefour Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...

, a commune outside of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, where he worked closely with other Haitian artists until 1987. The subject matter of his paintings was typically scenes of working-class Haitians, but occasionally Aladin depicted religious accounts inspired by

Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou () is an African diasporic religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West Africa, West and ...

. Aladin's artwork has been featured in books, including "The Vodou Box" by Manuela Dunn Mascetti. He was also mentioned in the book ''Latin American and Caribbean Artists of the Modern Era: A Biographical Dictionary'' which said he was "noted for his colorful naive compositions depicting Haitian life." He died of heart disease on August 17, 1993, at the age of 68. Theard had nine children, among which is artist Agathe Aladin. She spent much of her early life watching and helping her father paint. His work is included in various galleries and exhibitions including "The

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an ...

Collection of Self-Taught Art" (2014) at Material Culture Gallery in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aladin, Theard 1925 births 1993 deaths Haitian artists Outsider artists People from Jacmel

Biography

See also

References