Divine Revolution: The Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié

‘Divine Revolution: The Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié’ ?Opens at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History Oct. 10, 2004

January 1, 2004 marked the two-hundredth anniversary of Haitian independence wrought by the revolutionary leader Toussaint L’ouverture, and proclaimed by General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the first President of the “Black Republic,” as Haiti is often called. To celebrate the occasion, the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president, asked painter and sculptor Edouard Duval-Carrié to create an exhibition in the heart of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital.

Born in Port-au-Prince in 1954 and trained at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Duval-Carrié makes his art in a studio in the “Little Haiti” district of Miami. He has lived in Puerto Rico and Canada and traveled to the Republic of Benin in West Africa, ancestral home of the divinities of Vodou (a religion and way of life in Haiti). His work in various media celebrates these divinities (lwa) and their role in the history of his country, especially the events of 1804. Though political upheaval interrupted the bicentennial exhibition in Port-au-Prince of Duval-Carrié’s work, he has recreated much of it and added to it for the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History exhibition ‘Divine Revolution: The Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié,’ from Oct. 10, 2004 through Jan. 30, 2005.

His art reflects a mélange of African, European, and Caribbean influences, and encompasses multiple aspects of the Haitian experience, from religion to history to politics. Duval-Carrié’s works emphasize migration while celebrating the Haitian spirit and the durability and modernity of the Haitian Vodou gods.

The first section of ‘Divine Revolution’ is devoted to sequined and beaded flags based on the artist’s paintings of revolutionary themes, in the tradition of the shimmering banners known as drapo that are presented at the beginning of Vodou ceremonies to salute the spirits. These new Duval-Carrié works — commissioned from the atelier of one of the best known of Haitian flag makers, Jean-Louis Edgar — duplicate the earlier set of flags that he had made at the request of the Haitian government for the bicentennial celebration in Port-au-Prince. Duval-Carrié’s flags embody themes and an aesthetic similar to that of the ritual drapo, while speaking in a distinctly postmodern idiom.

The second and most extensive section of the exhibition features large-scale paintings by the artist, including three related works entitled Migration Trilogy — an exquisite group of paintings from Miami’s Bass Museum of Art describing the mythological trajectories of the lwa — and several more recent paintings that address contemporary political events. Many of the paintings are mounted in the artist’s intricately handmade frames, which contribute to the meaning system of the works through their rich and sometimes enigmatic iconography. The final section of the exhibition is dedicated to a new installation in the form of a luminous resin altar, and signals the rebirth of the lwa in their new diasporic settings.

Duval-Carrié’s work has been included in numerous museum exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the Phoenix Art Museum (2002-3) and the Miami Art Museum (2000). His work is represented in the collections of the Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, Iowa; Miami Art Museum, Miami; Musee des Art Africains et Oceaniens, Paris; and Musee de Pantheon National Haitien, Port-au-Prince, among many others.

‘Divine Revolution’ is guest curated by Donald J. Cosentino, a scholar of Haitian art and professor in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures who curated the Fowler’s acclaimed ‘Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou’ exhibition in 1995. Funding for ‘Divine Revolution’ and the accompanying publication has been provided in part by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in Los Angeles, the Haitian Cultural Arts Alliance, Miami, the Ricky Williams Foundation, and David Wallack and Mango’s Tropical Café. Support provided by Rhum Barbancourt.

A lavishly illustrated book entitled ‘Divine Revolution: The Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié’ by Donald J. Cosentino will be published by the Fowler Museum in September 2004 (paper, 68 pages, ISBN 0-9748729-1-1).

In conjunction with this exhibition, the Fowler is exhibiting a selection of approximately forty drapo from the Museum’s extensive collection of these ritual flags, made of satin, velvet, or rayon, and lavishly adorned with sequins, beads, or appliqué. The exhibition, entitled ‘Saluting Vodou Spirits: Haitian Flags from the Fowler Collection,’ includes works from the early 1900s to the 1990s, as well as five newly commissioned beaded flags by women artists, who have only recently begun to work in this medium. These drapo are on display in the Fowler’s Goldenberg Galleria from Aug. 8 through Dec. 12, 2004.

Fall 2004 marks the onset of the Year of the Arts at UCLA, celebrating UCLA’s position as the University of California’s flagship campus for the arts, and as a national center for artistic research, public arts presentation, and the training of young artists, scholars, and teachers. The Year of the Arts at UCLA is book-ended by the opening of two major arts facilities on the Westwood campus. Newly renovated Glorya Kaufman Hall, featuring state-of-the-art facilities for dance, videography, and cross-cultural investigation in the arts, opens adjacent to the Fowler in Fall 2004. The year culminates in Fall 2005 with the opening of the Edythe L. and Eli Broad Center, which will feature exceptional visual arts exhibitions and the unveiling of a monumental sculpture by Richard Serra. Surrounding these two events, UCLA will present a series of interdisciplinary events in the visual and performing arts, including exhibitions, concerts, and symposia organized by UCLA’s arts leaders, including the Fowler Museum.