Ismael was born on April 24, 1940 in Petite-Riviere-de-l'Artibonite, Haiti. According to the excellent out-of-print book by Nadal-Gardere and Bloncourt, he was educated by the Friars of St. Mark and at Antenor Fermin High School. He began to paint in 1956 after visiting the Centre d'Art and The Foyer des Artes Plastiques. He studied with Blas and Georges Remponeau.

He was closely associated with The Mellons at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelles where he supervised the Ceramics Center. Ismael developed a style that was instantly recognizable, scenes of Haitian peasant life rendered with the intricacy and precision of a Byzantine icon. He had many students, Errol Louis and Alix Dorleus among them. In an Ismael painting, every garment of a subject's clothing is a different geometric pattern and color, as are the houses and the trees.

Ismael died suddenly in February 2000.

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