Franck Louissaint (Haitian, 1949-2021)

On October 22, 1949, Franck Louissaint was born in Aquin, Haiti, and died on February 5, 2021. Franck completed part of his studies in Port-au-Prince and began to paint independently. In 1969, he joined the Art Center and developed a hyper-realist art that he then taught at the center. He is known for his street scenes and paintings of rural life. Louissaint may be categorized as a pivot painter, having transitioned from the style of painting termed naïve to the more stripped-down painting termed modern. (Biographical Source: La Peinture Haitienne/Haitian Arts by Marie-José Gardère and Gérald Bloncourt, Editions Nathan, Paris, 1986) “Highly motivated, Louissaint broke with the so-called primitive style to achieve an extraordinary degree of realism,” says art critic Gérald Alexis in his book Peintres Haitiens.