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Considered one of the fathers of Haitian painting, he was the first Haitian painter to receive recognition when he was awarded medals at the Gallery of Science and Art in 1939-five years before the opening of the Centre d'Art. He started painting in 1927 while teaching cabinet making, tin smithing and wrought iron at the same school. Savain studied at the Haitian School of Agronomy and earned a law degree. He decided to learn painting in 1931, and in 1939 published his first book, La Case de Damballah . He studied at the Art Student's League in New York in 1941, where his second book, Les Oeuvres Nouvelles, was published a year later. His quest for knowledge was insatiable. A lawyer, painter, author and teacher of the arts, Savain was also a student of mural and fresco techniques, tempera, wood sculpture. He even found time to become a newspaper columnist from 1950 to 1956 during which time he appeared in over six art books. Savain's very personal style has been copied by many Haitian artists, but his pinks and purples are instantly recognizable, as is his use of semicircles and triangles in which painted figures crouch or sit. His work is on exhibition in the US, including the Corcoran Gallery and Grand Central and Riverside Museum. The opportunity to buy Savain's work is rare, but an aesthetic joy as well as an invaluable investment. Petion Savain died in 1975.   29N_0003, 12"x16"$Sold BC-1C, 16"x24"$Sold |