Hector Hyppolite (Haitian, 1894-1948) Purification Ceremony, circa 1948, oil on masonite board, signed. Framed. Size: 46.5'' x 34.5'', 118 x 88 cm (board); 49.25'' x 37.25'', 125 x 95 cm (frame).
Provenance:
Centre d'Art, Haiti 1948
Frances Cheston & Whitney Tower (grandson of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney)
Mrs. John Train
Astrid & Dr. Halvor Jaeger
Carmen Corrales, Esq.
John Branca, Esq.
Illustrated:
Sotheby's Parke-Bernet Eighty Four: Lot 140 (May 6, 1980)
Kunst aus Haiti (International Primary Art Gallery Collection): page 89
Description: Hector Hyppolite's 'Purification Ceremony' is a rare detailed depiction of the Vodou ritual. The consecration scene transforms initiates into 'hounsi,' a Vodou priest's assistants. While the consecration period involves many ritual steps, the symbolic cleansing rite is the most significant. Deities are invoked, called forth by drumming, musically shaking the 'asson,' and the presentation of sacrificial animals. Alters with strategically placed lit candles and syncretic forged metals are arranged for the deities most integral to the ceremony, including Agoue's, god of the seas, anchor. Through the black cross with a bent metal base, Baron Samedi, god of the underworld and the guedés, is called to arise. Damballah, god of creation, is referenced by the abbreviation of D.B.L. on the heart with cross at the 'houngan's' feet.
Additional Provenance Notes: Frances Cheston who married Whitney Tower (grandson of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney- founder of the Whitney Museum). Frances and Whitney married in 1947 and traveled to Haiti in 1948 and purchased the Hyppolite at the Centre d'Art. When they divorced, Frances kept the painting and married John Train – this is noted in the PB auction catalog- as “Property of Mrs. John Train”.
Painting