Mother with Child

Emmanuel Merisier, a modern primitive expressionist was born June 2, 1929 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He studied at the College de Beaubron Ardouin from 1952 to 1954. Inspired by other Haitian painters, he joined the Foyer des Arts Plastiques and the Brochette Gallery in Port-au-Prince. At the age of 35, he migrated to the United States and studied art at the School of Visual Arts from 1977 to 1980. Merisier's struggle with his artistic invisibility and his self-imposed isolation are his added strength. His works are deeply psychological and mysterious. They are about mysticism, voodoo or life in Haiti. A prominent cross is seen in all of his paintings. He participated in-group shows in Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and Mexico, New York at the Brooklyn Museum. He uses a Modern Expressionist technique to tell the folk-stories of Haiti. His work is included in the permanent collections of Ramapo College in New Jersey.