PHILOME OBIN

(1892 -1986)

Along with Hector Hyppolite, this native of Bas Limbe was responsible for the mid-20th century flourishing of Haitian art. Philome Obin had the confidence to send his painting “The Arrival of President Roosevelt in Cap-Haitien” to the newly opened Centre d’Art in 1944. It piqued the director’s interest in self-taught artists. Obin became head of a distinct style of painting known as the Cap-Haitien school, with an emphasis on daily life, street scenes and history from Haiti’s colonial past. In 1976 the president of Haiti awarded Obin highest government honors. More than a dozen of his relatives became painters. Obin’s legacy can be measured another way in the two murals, “The Crucifixionr” and “The Last Supper,” he painted for Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince.