Jean-Louis Sénatus (Haitian, b.1949)

Jean-Louis Sénatus was born on August 16, 1949, in Léogâne, Haiti. He started to draw and paint in 1967, then in 1969 he took courses at the Lope de Vega Institute and the Hall of Plastic Arts in Port-au-Prince. In Haiti, he met the Greek painter Scordillis, with whom he worked for a year. In 1968, he received the second prize in a poster competition sponsored by Air France in Port-au-Prince. From 1975 to 1983, he exhibited in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Curaçao, the United States, Italy, and England. Via the transparency of his finely nuanced colors, Sénatus shifts his vision toward the distant climes of the imagination. Each painting is a cameo of one or two colors which he seems to spray onto the canvas as if by magic. (La Peinture Haitienne/ Haitian Arts by Marie-José Gardère, Editions Nathan, Paris, 1986, pp.181)  “Often classified as a “neo-primitive” painter in view of his dream pictures, Senatus’ technique displays his true virtuosity”, says Gérald Alexis in his book Peintres Haitiens. Get the Book Now!