Louisane Saint Fleurant (Haitian, 1924-2005)

Louisiane Saint-Fleurant was born in 1924 in Petit-Trou-de-Nippe, Haiti, and passed away on June 1, 2005. She was the ‘godmother’ of the Saint-Soleil School of Painters, established under the guidance of Tiga Garoute and Maude Robbart, who promoted this movement in Soisson-la-Montagne (about fifty kilometers from Port-au-Prince). Starting in 1978, she participated in several exhibitions both internationally and in Haiti. She is one of the most remarkable artists in this new school, which is free from all external influences and has given a fresh image to Haitian painting. As André Malraux noted regarding this school, “it is impossible to determine where it came from or to whom it speaks.” In L’Intemporel,Malraux offers a notable analysis of this new school, citing Louisanne Saint-Fleurant to support this astonishing feature: “It is through Voodoo that we would be best approach the creative process of the Saint-Soleil painters. In the final analysis, the painter paints because he or she is “mounted” (possessed) and paints what the Loa (voodoo god) wants.” (La Peinture Haitienne/Haitian Arts by Marie-José Nadal & Gérald Bloncourt, Editions Nathan, Paris 1986, pp.193)