Mary Whitfield and Galerie Bonheur were featured in the New York Times!
On the Margins, but Moving Toward the Center
Outsider Art Fair Evolves, but Holds Fast to Its Roots
By MARTHA SCHWENDENER
JAN. 29, 2015
New York Times: On the Margins, but Moving Toward the Center
Galerie Bonheur announces an exhibit “An American Dilemma: Works by Craig Norton and Mary Whitfield” at the Outsider Art Fair 2015 in New York! We look forward to seeing you! Visit us at Booth # 310.
(images) Craig Norton, Practice Peace, See What Happens, 2013, detail. Mary Whitfield, Hate, the Killings: Jerusalem Then and Birmingham, Alabama, Now, 2008, detail.
It’s finally here! Our latest publication Craig Norton: Trying to Change the World One Drawing at a Time is now available to purchase at Lulu.com!
Click here to order your copy now
Ralph Auf der Heide, now in his eighties, began painting on the reverse sides of sheets of transparent Plexiglass in 1987 at the age of 72. Since that time his work has reached a wide and appreciative audience in the United States and abroad. When his paintings surprise, stimulate, amuse, and lead to questions, entirely self-taught painter Ralph considers them to have value.
He says, “Being able to make a kind of reality out of oily pigments spread over a surface with hairs from some animal is to me, a miracle. I have never had painting or drawing lessons and believed that these forms of expression would forever be denied me for want of training.”
Auf der Heide’s method of painting is an ancient technique widely practiced in many parts of the world, but rarely seen in the US. Auf der Heide currently lives with his wife in California.
Bruno del Favero is an artist from Connecticut.
Joe Little Creek is a Cherokee artist born in Georgia.
Virgil Myers had been carving wood and making art since he was a child, although he had been a farmer by trade for nearly all of his adult life. He has carved several depictions of Noah’s Ark, as well as rendering other religious themes and country genres. Myers passed away in 2003 and is dearly missed.
Along with Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin (1892 – 1986), a native of Bas Limbé, was responsible for the mid-20th century flourishing of Haitian art. Obin had the confidence to send his painting, The Arrival of President Roosevelt in Cap-Haitien, to the newly opened Centre d’Art in 1944. It piqued the director’s interest in self-taught artists. Obin became the head of a distinct style of painting known as the Cap-Haitien school, with an emphasis on daily life, street scenes and history reflecting Haiti’s colonial past.
The president of Haiti awarded Obin the highest government honor for his artistic contributions to the country’s cultural life in 1976. More than a dozen of his relatives also became painters. Obin contributed two murals, The Crucifixion and The Last Supper, to the Episcopal Holy Trinity Cathedral, in Port-au-Prince. His work is in the permanent collections of the Musée d’Art Haitien du College Saint Pierre, in Port-au-Prince; Ramapo College of New Jersey, in Mahwah, New Jersey; the Waterloo Center for the Arts, in Waterloo, Iowa; and the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, among other institutions.
From “Masterpieces of Haitian Art: Seven Decades of Unique Visual Heritage” by Candice Russell. Schiffer Publications Ltd, 2013.
Virgil Young was a prominent Haitian art collector. He grew up in Memphis, then moved to New York City in the late 1960s. Young worked as an archivist for artist Robert Indiana while performing in his band. In the late 1970s, he relocated to Hollywood and worked for filmmaker Tim Burton. In the 1980s and 1990s, Young discovered much joy and passion in Haitian art. As he formed strong relationships with local priests, he began collecting numerous exquisite vintage Voudou flags. Young became known for his expansive collection and was an esteemed authority in Haitian religious art. After he died in 1995, Fowler Museum at UCLA acquired much of Young’s estate.