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1. Grandm�re
1972 (20x16)
212. 'Shore Rest'
n/d (16x8)
254. Nature Morte
n/d (36x24)
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Gourgue
was one of the greatest of all Haitian artists. A work he did at
age 17 is in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern
Art. Following that, and for almost half a century, he produced a steady
stream of masterpieces.
When I met
Gourgue, in 1985, I had
with me a photograph of Grandm�re (so titled on its back). Purchased from a Petionville
gallery in 1972, it was the first painting I had ever bought. He confirmed that the subject was his own grandmother. I gave
him the photo; it was still taped to a wall in his studio the last time
I saw him.
The
model in Shore Rest
may be the artist's mother. The painting was acquired
28 years after I
obtained 'Grandm�re.' (I have often wished that I'd asked Gourgue
for a self�portrait: I might now have three generations....)
n n
n
I
commissioned Reposair � I asked for 'a vodou
scene' � through an acquaintance in Ha�ti. In December
1985, when I heard it was done, I
rushed to Port�au�Prince, located Gourgue's studio, and walked in
alone and
unannounced. Of the several works completed and in progress, I most
admired Reposair.
'It's not for sale: it's for
a big collector in New York,' Gourgue explained. Having moved back
to California a couple of years earlier, I didn't realize he meant me.
We talked a bit. Then � 'You're
Mr Ned? This is your painting!'
A couple of days later Gourgue built a wooden crate, packing his and other paintings in it �
including one by Duffaut � for
me to ship as 'excess baggage' on my flights back to San Francisco.
In exchange he asked if I would bring him a cordless telephone on my
next visit.
I
did. Not finding him in his studio, I located his
comfortable, hilltop home. Ushered in by his housekeeper, I waited till
he roared up in his late�model Japanese car. We then shared some wine
and broken English conversation.
n n
n
Nature Morte was
acquired in 2014 from a Florida
auction house -- for about a fourth of the current asking price for Gourgues
of similar size.
The Garden of
Eden was also obtained in an auction, this one by a house on the
eastern tip of Long Island. It is the largest painting I have ever
bought. (There is no enlargement of this painting.)
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99. Reposair
1985 (24x36)
261. Le Jardin d��den
n/d (60x40) |
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