From June 12 to August 16, 1997, The Equitable Gallery will present an exhibition of over 100 paintings and sculptures spanning fifty years of Haitian art. Island on Fire: Passionate Visions of Haiti from the Collection of Jonathan Demme includes works --many of which are being shown in New York for the first time -- by such renowned masters as Toussaint Auguste, Wilson Bigaud, Préfète Duffaut, Jacques-Enguerrand Gourgue, Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin, Seneque Obin, and Pauleus Vital, as well as the work of lesser known but equally compelling artists, including Danice Bordes, Lionel Bouzi, Pierre-Antoine Cantave, Dominique Fontus, Edger Jean-Baptiste, and others. The exhibition marks the first occasion that the private collection of renowned filmmaker Jonathan Demme has been on public view in New York.

Island on Fire was curated by Jonathan Demme and organized by The Kaliko Press and The Equitable Gallery, located in New York City. The Equitable Gallery is sponsored by The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.

Island on Fire is accompanied by a 200-page catalogue with an introductory essay by noted Haitian novelist and poet Edwidge Danticat, and additional essays by Jonathan Demme, project coordinator Pebo Voss, and Haitian Vodou priest Aboudja. Much of the biographical and iconographic information included in the catalogue offers fresh research into the history and meaning of Haitian art.

In her catalogue essay, Edwidge Danticat writes: "The Haitian canvas is one of the most faithful recorders of both the radiant humor and the idyllic melancholy of Haiti's many faces. The painters' oeuvre remains among the most consistent notations of our dreams, ideals, culture and history. Just a cursory glimpse at some of the paintings in this collection gives you a flavor of both the universal and particularly Haitian themes addressed by our artists, starting from Biblical Egypt (Danice Bordes' Moses in the Bulrushes, ca. 1987) to the more recent arrival of United Nations troops in Haiti as seen in the works of Alex Destiné, Paul Jean-Pierre and others."

Among the highlights of the exhibition is Rigaud Benoit's Reine d'Afrique/Queen of Africa, ca. 1947, which depicts a stately woman surrounded by a garden of overgrown flowers. In Jacmel Market, 1949, Castera Bazile shows us everyday life in the southern resort town. Toussaint Auguste's 3 Snakes and 11 Goats, 1955, depicts a Haitian folk riddle that asks whether eleven goats can stand up to three deadly snakes. In Seaside Love Scene Observed by a Monkey, ca. 1960, A. Armand shows a female figure suggestive of Ezili, the Vodou spirit of love, caught in the embrace of a troubadour on a terrace overlooking the sea.

Philomé Obin's A Closed Factory with the Citadel in the Distance, ca. 1978, faithfully reports the economic hardship witnessed in the northern port of Cap-Haitien, while Edger Jean-Baptiste's Hurricane Allen Wreaks Havoc on Bainet, dated 1980, offers a nightmarish image of natural disaster.

Among the works included in Island on Fire are several sculptures, among them Bossu de Mer, ca. 1965, by Trecilius Trezillien, a monumental sculpture in wood depicting the three-horned Vodou spirit. The exhibition also includes several ironwork sculptures of Vodou deities by renowned artist Georges Liautaud.

The flourishing of Haitian art over the past fifty years can be traced back to 1944, when the American artist DeWitt Peters and a group of Haitian friends opened the Centre d'Art in the capital city, Port-au-Prince. In creating a nexus for the display, sale and discussion of art, the Centre d'Art attracted artists from around the country who came, as Peters put it, "wandering out of the hills with paintings under their arms...."

Haitian artists, then as now, often practiced their craft in addition to their livelihoods earned as mechanics, blacksmiths, farmers, Vodou priests, chauffeurs, and servants. "For many of our painters," explains Danticat, "survival is already woven into their own stories. Many have taught themselves to paint with no help from others. On some days a few of them must choose whether they should buy paint or bread." Nevertheless, the work of these artists continues to gain recognition and reward throughout the world, and the Centre d'Art continues to be a mainstay of the Haitian art scene, though many other galleries have emerged since its founding.

Jonathan Demme first encountered Haitian art in 1986 through the Haitian Corner, a gallery then located on Manhattan's Upper West Side. In the ten years since, he has collected hundreds of works of art, many from the artists themselves, acquiring in the process an intimate contact with Haiti's people, its artists and culture. In his catalogue essay, Demme writes of the exhibition selections as reflecting his "gravitation toward certain rich themes of subject matter running throughout the art of Haiti...a multi-layered and content-rich feast for the eye and the imagination."

The Equitable Gallery presents works from all fields of the visual arts, including exhibitions originating outside of New York that would not otherwise have a presence in the city, as well as New York collections that would benefit from preservation and public presentation.