Rose-Marie Desruisseau (Haitian, 1933-1988)

Rose-Marie Desruisseau, the Haitian master female painter, was born on August 30, 1953, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and died in 1988 in Montreal, Canada. Desruisseau’s childhood in Diquini among simple people, her warm humor, and her keen desire to communicate to speak to her contemporaries paved the way for her understanding and love of art. Painting fulfills deep needs for her. Braving the misgiving of those around her, she devoted herself to the worship of color and form while relatively young. She studied under the direction of Amerigo Montagutelli and Géo Remponeau at Haiti’s Academy of Fine Arts and then worked in the studio of Pétion Savain. She has participated in all the country’s cultural movements; from 1958 to 1961, she participated in the Hall of Plastic Arts, Brochette, and Calfou. In 1960 she worked side by side with Luckner Lazard, Dieudonné Cédor, Denis Émile, Néhémy Jean, Tiga, and Antonio Joseph at Brochette. She undertook intensive pictorial studies of Voodoo. By 1963, Desruisseau’s work had developed considerable forcefulness. She studied ethnography from 1967 to 1972 and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1977. During 1960-1980, she exhibited in nearly all the Haitian galleries and Senegal, Caracas, Santo Domingo, the United States, Canada, and Martinique. She has taken part in various exhibitions at the French Institute of Haiti. In 1974 she was awarded the Jacques Roumain first prize for her canvas Délivrance. [Peinture Haitienne/Haitian Arts – Marie-José Nadal & Gérald Bloncourt- Nathan 1989]

 “ Desruiseeau’s paintings reveal a highly talented woman’s determination to fight prejudice and show her patriotic fervor and involvement in Haitian national culture. “ [Peintres Haitiens by Gérald Alexis, Editions Cercle d’Art, Paris, 2000)