Gesner Armand was born on June 11, 1936 in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. In 1956 he joined the Centre d’Art where he began with watercolors. He lived and studied in Mexico from 1958 until the end of 1959, returning to Haiti to do a solo show at the Centre d’Art in December of that year. The next year he was awarded a scholarship by the French goverment and lived in Paris until 1962. He is one of the foremost Haitian impressionists, rendering the heart and soul of Haiti, it’s birds, trees, hats, chairs, cemeteries and children with sensitive sophistication and gradient colors.

He became the director of the Museum of Haitian Art at the College of St. Pierre after the death of Pierre Monosiet in 1984 and held that post until 1992.

Photo © Bill Bollendorf 2000.