Gerard Fortuné

A houngan, pastry chef, and prolific painter, Gerard Fortune was born on June 6, 1925, in Pétionville. His art career began in 1978 and flourished with the recognition of his talent in the book Where Art is Joy/Haitian Art: The First Forty Years, by Selden Rodman. Affiliations with multiple galleries account for the large number of his paintings. It is estimated he had made thousands of paintings by the late 1980s. The late dealer Issa el-Saieh, of Galerie Issa in Port-au-Prince, encouraged Fortuné to make fewer paintings and spend more time on each one. But the artist, paid the same sum each Saturday by the gallery owner, always thought he would get paid more money if he produced more paintings.

From “Masterpieces of Haitian Art: Seven Decades of Unique Visual Heritage” by Candice Russell. Schiffer Publications Ltd, 2013.