Adam Leontus (Haitian, 1923-1986)

Adam Leontus was born in April 1923 into a family of nine children either in Anse-à-Galet (La Gônave) or Port-au-Prince. Formerly a dockworker, he was ‘discovered” through wall paintings he had created in a Vodoo temple in a poor section of Port-au-Prince, and joined the Centre d’art shortly thereafter in 1947. He contributed a mural depicting “The Annunciation” at the Episcopal Cathedral of Sainte Trinité in Port-au-Prince during the 1950s. He painted until his death on May 1, 1986. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Musée d’Art Haitien du College St Pierre in Port-au-Prince, the Milwaukee of Art, The Waterloo Museum of Art in Iowa, the U.C.L.A Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. (Source: Island on Fire, by Jonathan Demme & Edwidge Danticat, 1997, pp.45)