Raymond Callebaut 20"x14" Vodou Ceremony Preparation 1977 Lithograph On Paper #29-3-96GSN-Marie & Georges S. Nader Family Collection
Raymond Callebaut 20"x14" Vodou Ceremony Preparation 1977 Lithograph On Paper #29-3-96GSN-Marie & Georges S. Nader Family Collection
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Description
Description
In Vodou Ceremony Preparation, Raymond Callebaut captures a quiet yet charged moment preceding ritual action. Three figures are shown engaged in preparatory gestures—laying cloth, arranging objects, and conferring through body language—suggesting the threshold between the everyday and the sacred. The composition is spare and rhythmic, allowing gesture and posture to convey meaning rather than explicit symbolism. Executed in fluid colored ink, the work reflects Callebaut’s deep engagement with Haitian spiritual life and communal traditions. His economical line and controlled washes lend the scene a sense of immediacy and reverence, emphasizing ritual labor as an act of devotion. Rather than depicting the ceremony itself, Callebaut focuses on anticipation, grounding the sacred in human presence and preparation. This work exemplifies Callebaut’s sensitive, ethnographic approach to Haitian Vodou themes, making it a compelling example of 20th-century Caribbean-influenced modernism.
About this artist
About this artist
Raymond Callebaut was born in 1932 in Antwerp, Belgium. He studied for 7 years at The Royal Academy of Fine Art in Mechelen, Belgium, each year winning 1st prize. The following 5 years he spent at The National Institute of Fine Art in Antwerp under the directorship of the world-renowned painter Baron Isodor Opsomer and Professor Miss Zarina, originally from Riga. The city of Antwerp gave him a grant to further his studies in Italy. After returning home, The Round Table of Belgium supported him for a year, studying various famous art centers throughout France. Since then, Mr. Callebaut has traveled extensively in Europe and North America, painting and exhibiting in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Haiti, and the USA before finally sitting in Toronto, Canada. Callebaut had a studio in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the 1980s. His paintings were sold at Galerie Nader at the time. One can still admire his works there. A few of his artworks have been sold at auctions, and a select few galleries still have a few of his works for sale. He died many years ago, but there is no proven document on the exact date and place of his death.
