Haitian art mystery uncovered at Noon

Although freshman Lauren Ramey does not study art, the nursing major found herself at the IU Art Museum’s Noon Talk Series on Thursday.

“I needed to find an event on campus that focuses on a culture experience,” Ramey said, explaining a class assignment. “It’s been really interesting.”

Ramey said she heard about visiting Haitian art and culture expert LeGrace Benson’s talk, “Images of Haiti as a Colony and as a Free Black Nation,” and decided it was her best bet for the assignment.

Benson, director of the Arts of Haiti Research Project and associate editor of the Journal of Haitian Studies, was invited to give a talk in conjunction with the Haitian Studies Association’s 21st Annual Conference, organized this week by IU.

Although the talk was not an official event sponsored by the conference, Nan Brewer, the museum’s curator of works on

paper, said the timing was perfect for Benson to visit.

“We are lucky that there was a national conference this week,” Brewer said. “LeGrace was able to come a little early.”

Benson, who had never visited IU, focused her talk on various pieces in the Art Museum’s permanent collection, located in the Gallery of the Art of the Western World on the first floor.

Benson said she came to the gallery Thursday morning to study the pieces to prepare. She also told gallery viewers she had a formal talk prepared, but decided to veer away from her original plan.  

The mystery Benson wanted to shed light on involved four Haitian paintings in the gallery, created in the 18th or 19th century but whose painter is unknown. Benson hoped to discover who could have produced the works through her own interpretation and by posing questions to the audience. 

Although she did not have a conclusive answer, various ideas and possibilities were presented for the audience to consider.

“They are a mystery to us,” Benson said of the pieces. “There is still a lot we don’t know.”

While the first four paintings were traditional pieces, Benson also focused on contemporary pieces in the gallery. One was a photograph by Harold Bloom titled “Haitian Women, Croix des Missions” that was made during what Benson called the “Haitian Renaissance.”

Toni Pressley-Sanson, a post-doctoral fellow from Pennsylvania State University, said she arrived in Bloomington for the conference Thursday and realized attending the talk fit perfectly into her schedule.

“I’ve read her work; she’s an amazing scholar,” Pressley-Sanson said.

Also in attendance was Bloomington resident Cynthia Hall, who said she had attended several talks in the past and was happy to attend another.

“The pieces are so interesting,” Hall said. “I think there is a lot to be gained when they are interpreted for you.”

Benson said that even during her short time on campus, Haitian presence could be felt. 

“There are so many educated people in the Haitian Studies department,” Benson said. “Haiti is an invisible thing on some campuses, but here on this campus it’s not.”