Wilson Bigaud

Wilson Bigaud was just 15 years old when he started his life as an artist, first as a sculptor.  He was encouraged to become a painter by American Dewitt Peters, founder of the Haitian Art Center (Centre d’Art).  Bigaud studied under one of the masters of the center, Maurice Bono.  In 1950, Bigaud won second prize at the International Exhibition in Washington with his canvas entitled "Paradise."  Today, this painting is part of the permanent collection of MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York City.  Bigaud often depicts scenes of everyday life in a primitive style, with distorted perspective and scale, such as in “Marchande De Fleurs”, (The Flower Vendor) showcased on this site.  Yet Haitian life and its details are strongly present with the goat, the rooster, the large basket on top of the peasant’s head.  Wilson Bigaud was born in 1931 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  He is world-famous for his mural, "The Wedding at Cana", painted in the early fifties on the walls of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince.  His work is part of permanent collection in the Milwaukee Museum of Art, the Waterlow Museum of Art in Iowa and the U.C.L.A. Fowler Museum of Cultural History of Los Angeles.

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