STIVENSON MAGLOIRE

(1963 -1994)

The son of Saint Soleil painter Louisiane Saint Fleurant achieved such heights of recognition within his short lifetime that his obituary was front page news in The Miami Herald. He had fame, press exposure and money, all of which engendered envy in others and did nothing to blunt a profound death wish. According to his dealer and friend Dr. Cartos Jara, Stivenson Magloire discovered by accident a technique of over-painting on canvas to add texture and depth. He then scraped away the color to reveal layers underneath. Scales of justice, dollar signs, crosses, black birds, hearts, voodoo power points to ward off evil and human figures populate his deeply symbolic paintings that comment on Haitian politics, religion, greed and corruption, as well as Haiti’s relationship with the U.S. Magloire had his first exhibition, with Antilhomme Richard, at the Museum of Haitian Art in February, 1989. Numerous other showings of his work followed in Europe and the U.S., including the Kenkelaba Gallery of Joe Overstreet in New York in mid-1990. Magloire was brutally murdered by anti-Aristide forces in Petionville, the suburb where he was born, on October 8, 1994