Research Catalog

Vodou things : the art of Pierrot Barra and Marie Cassaise

Title: Vodou things : the art of Pierrot Barra and Marie Cassaise / Donald J. Cosentino.
Author: Cosentino, Donald, 1941-
Publication: Jackson, Ms. : University Press of Mississippi, 1998.

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Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	N6591 C82	Off-site

Description

72 pages : color illustrations; 22 cm.

Summary

Pierrot Barra and his wife Marie Cassaise create and sell their "Vodou things" in the ramshackle Iron Market of downtown Port-au-Prince. Their art is the most astonishing that the author of this fascinating book has encountered during more than a decade of researching Vodou in Haiti. He considers their work, which celebrates and evokes the powerful gods of Haiti, to be the most original Vodou art in the world.
From refuse, junk, kitsch, and Roman Catholic imagery the artists assemble startling creations that have given a new direction to "postmodernism" and "outsider art." Using rubber dolls, sunglasses, holy cards, barbecue forks, goats' horns, speedometers, rosaries, costume jewelry, mirrors, Christmas ornaments, crucifixes, sequins, and velour, they create sculptures that portray the fiery and potent gods of Haiti.
No matter how Barra and Cassaise's appreciators may choose to label their art, these artists remain deeply Haitian and profoundly devoted to Vodou. Their sculptures capture the teeming, rich cultural history of their country, a land that is sustained by distant memories of Africa, haunted by the imagery of Catholic saints and Masonic regalia, and bewitched by imported kitsch from Hollywood.

Series Statement

Folk art and artists series

Uniform Title

Folk art and artists series.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

ISBN

1578060141 (alk. paper)

LCCN

97017175

OCLC

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries