ALEXANDRE GREGOIRE

(1922 - )

First a saxophone player, this native of Jacmel became a musician in the Haitian army in 1939. From 1958 to 1968, Alexandre Gregoire was part of the music corps of the national palace in Portau-Prince. Gerard Valcin was his painting teacher, introducing him to the Centre d’Art in 1966. Gregoire’s highly populated and distinctive paintings are filled with people and animals. They run the gamut from scenes of centuries-old history to voodoo mysteries and Biblical scenes, like Adam and Eve in the garden of paradise. The artist likes to portray spectacle and pageantry, perhaps as a result of witnessing so much of it as a musician.