A Night of Remembering By Kassandra Khalil
On March 17th, HCX commemorated renowned Haitian artist, Dieudonné Cédor who passed away on September 27th, 2010. To commemorate the anniversary of his birth, we hosted a screening of Arnold Antonin’s documentary “Cédor” and discussion as well as a small exhibition of the artist’s work.
Prior to the screening of Arnold Antonin’s “Cédor,” the guests mingled through Meghan Boody’s startling and intriguing exhibit on the ground floor of Affirmation Arts Gallery (for the less squeamish, live mice in a cage with a very realistic girl mannequin is totally worth checking out). The film was incredibly informative, tracing Dieudonné Cédor’s evolution as an artist through his explorative youth, to his esteem as a leading creative body in the Haitian artist community.
Michel Lerebours’ follow-up discussion was deeply insightful and personal. His artistic relationship with Cédor revealed a very humanizing history of a man who introduced structural change to modern Haitian painting traditions. André Juste discussed these changes in detail during his slideshow of Cédor’s work. Juste discussed the shift in bodily expression that Cédor’s subjects underwent as Cédor’s style shifted away from traditional Haitian painting canon. The transformation, Juste described, from the more restricted motions of the depicted human body in Cédor’s work showed his very own progress away from what many consider the commercialistic, kitschy art of some Haitian art towards a verity of situation that depicted the soul of the Haitian people.
Following the discussions, guests meandered into the upper gallery space where a small exhibition of Cédor’s work was on display. Smaller conversations revolved around Cédor’s use of color and contrast, the visual depth of the paintings and some of their own personal experiences with the late master.
Special thanks to Affirmation Arts, Arnold Antonin, Paul and Claudine Corbanese, Michel Lerebours, and Andre Juste.
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