Biography
Born Grande Riviere du-Nord, near Cap-Haitien, 23 Oct 1923. Haitian sculptor and painter. Joseph began his career as a sculptor, modeling figures in clay while working at a brick factory in Port-au-Prince. In 1948 thirty of these were seen by the American sculptor Jason Seley, who had come from New York to Haiti to work with the American watercolourist Dewitt Peters (1901-66), on a visit to the brick factory to have some of his own pieces fired. The most striking figures were of animals. Seley encouraged Joseph to develop his talent and invited him to the Centre d'Art in Port-au-Prince. Plans were under way for a series of murals at Ste-Triniti Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, and Seley suggested that Joseph make a terracotta screen, with sculpted openwork blocks. In addition Joseph produced terracotta Stations of the Cross for Ste-Triniti. Upset because his works were being copied while awaiting firing at the brick factory, Joseph turned to painting, favouring muted colours applied in a thin layer to hardboard panels. At about the same time he converted from Vodoun to Protestantism and became a lay priest. Vodoun scenes in his early work were replaced by Christian ones in later compositions, but he continued to represent animals with a wry humour and a not too subtle satire on human foibles. His use of animal tales to point a moral relates to traditions of Haitian folklore. In his later works he featured polar bears and apes interacting in amusing situations.
