Edouard Duval-Carrie.
Makandal.
1981.
Signed, dated and titled.
Oil on canvas.
Excellent condition.
50" w x 74" h with frame.
Exhibited at Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, A.C., October 1992-January 1993.
Also exhibited at a solo exhibition, Migration of the Spirit, Figge Art Museum, Iowa, 2006.
Est. $4,000-8,000.
Buyer is responsible for shipping.

This painting was based on the popular legend of Makandal, an important figure in the Haitian Independence; he is immortalized on the 20-gourde coin. Makandal was a slave working at a sugarcane plantation. After losing a hand in an accident with one of the industrial machines, his white owners considered killing him, but instead, they freed him. He never forgot the traumas of slavery and began experimenting with herbs and began poisoning white colonists, thus starting an all-out revolution. Makandal's story convince King Louis XIV of France to employ food testers. Makandal was eventually captured and sentenced to burning. According to legend, the moment the fire started, a wind swept through the plaza and Makandal disappeared, flying away with mosquito wings.

Duval-Carrie is widely recognized as one of the leading artists of the contemporary Haitian diaspora. As a teenager, he fled Haiti to escape the totalitarian regime of Francois Duvalier, 'Papa Doc', eventually settling in Miami. His work is known for his innovative adaptations of traditional Haitian iconography which engage with contemporary social and political symbolism. Duval-Carrie compels the viewer to reconsider history through the lens of how Africa has shaped the Americas and the Caribbean.