CHAVANNES Etienne

“I don’t paint things as I see them with my eyes, but as I see them with my mind.”

Étienne CHAVANNES

Interview with Étienne Chavannes, Centre d’Art archives, 2016

Etienne Chavannes was born on July 15, 1939, in Cap-Haitien, the second largest city in the Republic of Haiti. His mother was a seamstress, and his father a trader who bought and sold large quantities of coffee and cocoa for export. The eldest of eight children, he completed his primary education at Collège Marius Levy and continued with his secondary studies at Collège Oswald Durand. These schools in Cap-Haitien provided him with a strong educational foundation.

After a brief stay in Port-au-Prince, he returned to Cap-Haitien in 1964 to assist his father in his business ventures and soon became a trader, importer, and exporter himself. Three years later, he left the commercial world and went to work for SNEM (National Service for the Eradication of Malaria) in Petit-Goâve, a town located in the Ouest Department, 68 kilometers south of Port-au-Prince. He did not return to Cap-Haitien until 1970. There, captivated by the beauty of the city, he felt compelled to follow a long-held youthful dream: painting.

Inspired by the success of Philomé Obin, the renowned painter from Cap-Haitien and director of the city’s branch of the Centre d’Art, many young people in Cap-Haitien began exploring painting themselves. They sought to emulate the man widely regarded as the master of Cap-Haitian painting—an instructor and leading figure in the city’s artistic scene. His techniques and signature style influenced an entire generation of aspiring artists.

In early 1971, Néhémy Jean—an art critic, gallery owner, and celebrated painter—became Étienne Chavannes’ primary mentor. Under his guidance, Chavannes worked with great dedication. Jean advised him on color choices, the interplay of light and shadow, and compositional techniques, helping Chavannes develop a style that was distinctly his own and instantly recognizable.

The portrayal of crowds is the hallmark of Étienne Chavannes’ work—a descriptive approach rooted in the tradition of the École du Cap. His canvases teem with life, capturing bustling scenes of Cap-Haitien: parish celebrations, weddings, funerals, street protests, carnivals, sports events, and more. Through his brush, Chavannes reveals a city alive and constantly in motion, just as he experiences it in his everyday life.

He also draws inspiration from his time in Petit-Goâve and paints historical scenes that span the founding of Haiti, the Duvalier regime, and the era of mass mobilizations under Aristide.

n 1973, he joined the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince. According to Étienne Chavannes, the landmark exhibition of Haitian art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 1978 marked a turning point in his career. He is considered a member of the third generation of Haitian painters.

In 1994, filmmaker Jonathan Demme organized an exhibition at Ramapo College in New Jersey, where Chavannes was featured alongside Edger Jean-Baptiste and Ernst Prophète. His work has been exhibited internationally, in countries such as France, Germany, and Belgium (Brussels). Chavannes’ paintings are part of the permanent collections of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, the Waterloo Museum of Art in Iowa, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

In 1973, he joined the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince. According to Étienne Chavannes, the landmark exhibition of Haitian art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 1978 marked a turning point in his career. He is considered a member of the third generation of Haitian painters.

In 2005, Etienne Chavannes was among the Haitian and Congolese artists featured in the exhibition Peinture et imaginaire collectif du Congo-Kinshasa et d’Haïti, organized by the Canada Research Chair in Comparative History of Memory. The event was part of the Haiti-Congo project, which sought to explore and confront the shared imaginaries and lived experiences of Congolese and Haitian societies through visual art. The initiative aimed to create meaningful exchanges by exposing each group to the creative work of the other—exhibiting artworks, observing and listening to audience reactions, sparking debates, and fostering dialogue and collaboration between artists from both countries.

In 2013, Etienne Chavannes announced his retirement from the Haitian art scene.

In June 2018, the Centre d’Art, in collaboration with Chavannes and his family, organized a solo retrospective exhibition of his work from 1971 to 2013, titled Etienne Chavannes: Les racines sont profondes (“The Roots Are Deep”).

Just a few weeks later, on Saturday, August 18, 2018, Etienne Chavannes passed away in Port-au-Prince at the age of 79.

Exhibitions

Solo

2018 – Étienne Chavannes: Les racines sont profondes (The Roots Are Deep), 270th exhibition of Le Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Group

Years 2000

2008 – Days of Solidarity with the Victims of Recent Disasters and Art Exhibitions, Musée d’Art Haïtien du Collège Saint-Pierre, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

2006 – Allegories of Haitian Life from the Collection of Jonathan Demme, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, Florida, USA.

2005 – Encounters and Reencounters in Naïve Art: Brazil – Haiti (Encontros e Reencontros na Arte Naif: Brasil – Haïti), Ministério das Relações Exteriores, Brasília, Brazil.

2003–2004 – Page d’Histoire II, Musée d’Art Haïtien du Collège Saint-Pierre, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

2003 – Page d’Histoire I, Musée d’Art Haïtien du Collège Saint-Pierre, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

2000 – Haitian Celebration, Coral Springs Museum of Art, Miami, Florida, USA.

Years 1990
1999 – Billeder Fra Haïti / Images from Haïti, Kunsthallen Brandts Klaederfabrik, Odense, Denmark.

1998 – Haïti: Parfums de liberté, Musée de Vicq, Vicq, France.

1998 – Droits de l’Homme, Utopie, Défi, Réalités: Les créateurs haïtiens, 1948–1998, UNESCO, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

1998 – Haïti, un art de liberté, Maison Jules-Verne, Houilles, France. Art sale and exhibition.

1997 – Island On Fire: Passionate Images of Haiti from the Collection of Jonathan Demme, The Equitable Gallery, New York, USA.

1997 – Hommage, Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien (MUPANAH), Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

1997 – Mille Couleurs d’Haïti, Galerie Vraiment Songe, Paris, France.

1997 – Haitian Art: Twenty Years of Collecting at the Waterloo Museum of Art, 1977–1997, Waterloo Museum of Art, Davenport, USA.

1995 – Les Haïtiens, Galerie d’Art Serpente, Chartres, France.

1994 – Haïti: Three Visions, Art Gallery of Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, USA.

1992 – A Haitian Celebration: Art and Culture, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

1992 – La peinture haïtienne à la rencontre de l’image d’Épinal, Imagerie d’Épinal, Paris, France.

1990 – Haïti: Actualities & Beliefs, Florida State University Gallery & Museum, Miami, Florida, USA.

Years 1980

1987 – Metallarbeiten und Bilder aus Haïti, Ifa Galerie, Bonn, Germany.

1983 – Peinture haïtienne, Musée international d’art naïf Anatole Jakovsky, Nice, France.

1982 – L’art naïf haïtien, Centre d’action culturelle de la Guadeloupe, Fort-Saint-Charles, Guadeloupe.

1981 – Haitian and Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, USA.

Years 1970

– 1979, La Galeria Arte + Diseno, Quito, Équateur.

– 1979, Haitian Paintings, PB Eighty-Four, New Jersey, États-Unis.

– 1979, Kunst aus Haïti, Staatlichen Kunsthalle, Berlin, Allemagne.

– 1979, Haitian Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiane, États-Unis.

– 1978- 1979, Haitian Art, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, États-Unis.

– 1978, Haitian Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, États-Unis.

– 1978, Haitian Paintings, PB Eigghty-Four, New York, États-Unis.

Bibliography

Books

– ALEXIS Gérald, Peintres haïtiens, éditions Cercle d’Art : Paris. 2000.

– DROT Jean-Marie, Haïti 500 ans d’histoire, Haïti 500 años de Historia, Diagonale : Rome. 1997.

– DROT Jean-Marie, La rencontre des 2 mondes vue par les peintres d’Haïti, Edizioni Carte Segrete. 1992.

– DROT Jean-Marie, Voyage au pays des naïfs, éditions Hatier : Espagne. Aout 1986.

– LEREBOURS Michel Philippe, Haïti et ses peintres de 1804 à 1980, Souffrances et Espoirs d’un peuple, tome 2, l’imprimeur II : Port-au-Prince, Haïti, 2e trimestre, novembre 1989.

– NADAL-GARDERE Marie-José, BLONCOURT Gérald, BELL Elisabeth (traductrice), La peinture haïtienne, Haitian Arts, éditions Nathan : Paris, France. 1986.

– PATAKI Eva, Haitian Painting, Art and Kitsch, Adams press: Chicago, Illinois, USA. 1986.

– SCHUTT-AINE Patricia, Haïti: A Basic Reference Book, Librairie Au Service de la Culture : Miami, Florida. 1994.

– STEBICH Ute, A Haitian Celebration Art and Culture, Milwaukee Art Museum: New York. 1992.

– STEBICH Ute, Haitian Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Harry N. Abrams publishers: New York. 1978.

Exhibition catalogs

– Allegories of Haitian Life, from the Collection of Jonathan Demme, Bass Museum of Art: Miami. 19 mai – 23 juillet 2006.

– Encontros e Reencontros na Arte Naifa : Brasil – Haïti / Rencontres et retrouvailles dans l’art naïf : Brésil – Haïti / Encounters and Reenconounters in Naïve Art : Brasil – Haïti, Ministério das Relações Exteriores : Brasilia. 2005.

– Haitian Celebration, Coral Springs Museum of Art: South Florida. 5 mai – 16 juillet 2000.

– Billeder fra Haïti-Images from Haïti, Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik: Danemark. 18 Septembre 1999 – 30 janvier 2000.

– Droits de l’homme, Utopie, Défi, Réalités, les créateurs haïtiens, 1948 – 1998, UNESCO, Bureau d’Haïti. 1998.

– Island on Fire: Passionate Images of Haiti from the Collection of Jonathan Demme, Kaliko Press: New York. 1997.

– Haitian Art: Twenty Years of Collecting at the Waterloo Museum of Art 1977-1997: [Iowa].

– Haïti: Three Visions, South Gallery Ramapo College of New Jersey: New Jersey. 19 octobre -7 décembre 1994.

– La peinture haïtienne à la rencontre de l’image d’Épinal, Imagerie d’Épinal : Paris. 4 – 20 Décembre 1992.

– La peinture Haïtienne : Dialogue du réel et de l’imaginaire, Palais du Rhin. 1990.

– Haïti: Actualities & Beliefs, Florida State University Gallery & Museum. 9 février – 11 mars 1990.

– Metallarbeiten Und Bilder Aus Haïti, Das Institut Auslandsbeziehungen zeigt die Ausstellung: Bonn. 13 Janvier – 14 Février 1987.

– Peinture Haïtienne, musée international d’art naïf Anatole Jakovsky : Nice. 19 février-29 avril 1983.

– L’art naïf Haïtien, Centre d’action culturelle de la Guadeloupe : Fort-Saint-Charles, Basse-Terre. 13 février-21 mars 1982.

– Kunst aus Haiti, The Brooklyn Museum – exposition itinérante, Berliner Festspiele GmbH: Berlin. 2 septembre 1978 – 28 octobre 1979.

Illustration

– Une autre mémoire de l’esclavage, fortunes et infortunes Dunkerquoises à Saint-Domingue au XVIIe siècle, Centre de la mémoire urbaine d’agglomération : Dunkerque. Mai 2016.