Haiti
( 1924 - )
Toussaint Auguste was born in Leogane, Haiti in November 1924. He attended college in the United States and Haiti, and worked as an accountant in Haiti's Department du Commerce. He was among the early painters working at the Centre d'Art in Port-au-Prince. Considered one of the First Generation Masters, examples of his work can be found in many museums—including the permanent collections of the Musee d'Art Haitien du College Saint Pierre in Port-au-Prince and the Milwaukee Museum of Art.
Toussaint Auguste was represented in the Cathedral of Sainte Trinite in Port-au-Prince with the murals Flight into Egypt and The Temptation of Adam and Eve. (The Cathedral was destroyed in the earthquake of 10 January 2010.) In 1966, his Nativity was featured on a UNICEF Christmas card. He moved to the United States in 1967, first settling in Brooklyn, New York, and then moving to Queens, New York in 1972.
In July 2022, as he approaches his 98th birthday, Toussaint Auguste continues to reside in Queens, New York.
[Biographic notes compiled by Patrick Jamieson.]
Available Art Works:
Selected Publications:
[na]. The Naive Tradition: Haiti. Milwaukee Art Center, 1974.
Demme, Jonathan. Island on Fire. Kaliko Press, 1997.
Material Culture. Direct From The Eye: The Jonathan Demme Collection of Self-Taught Art. Philadelphia, 2014.
Rodman, Selden. Renaissance in Haiti. 1948.
-. The Miracle of Haitian Art. New York, 1974.
-. Where Art is Joy. New York, 1988.
Stebich, Ute. A Haitian Celebration. Milwaukee Art Museum, 1992.